Badge of a Fighter
by supertinagirl6
Summary: What if instead of being the man everyone turns toward for their defense, Phoenix Wright was the woman everyone turned toward? Read the story of Phoenix "Nix" Wright, a woman who gets a bumpy start in law defense but eventually with help becomes an Ace Attorney. Phoenix Wright AU Partial Genderbend Companion fic to "Be Happy Sister."
1. Chapter 1 - Small Beginnings

Badge of a Fighter

Chapter 1

"We were all at gym class except you! Admit you stole the money!" a child yelled.

In an elementary school, a classroom of child were holding a class court over the disappearance of a child's lunch money. The suspect was the one child that was sick and asked to be excused from gym class since the money didn't disappear until after gym class. The children sneered and accused the suspected child while that child was forced to stand in front of the classroom next to the teacher.

"Now, Phoenix, you know stealing is wrong. Now apologize to the class like a good little girl." the teacher said in a stern tone.

A girl with short black hair with three wavy bangs slicked back like spikes, wearing a blue shirt, tan shorts, and brown shoes sobbed as she constantly wiped the tears from her indigo-blue eyes. She didn't know why no one believed her when she constantly claimed multiple times how she didn't steal the money yet her pleas were ignored. The young girl took in a shaky breath, convinced that there was no hope for her and she was doomed to be pronounced guilty from the start.

Deciding to give into their demands, Pheonix was fixing to apologize until at that moment she was interrupted by a child shouting "Objection!"

She blinked her eyes in shock when saw the child who shouted was none other than the victim of the missing lunch money case, Miles Edgeworth.  
Edgeworth was a boy with grayish-brown hair with two large bangs framing the sides of his face and he wore a black school uniform. The young boy's brown eyes burned with anger as he glared at the teacher.

"If she says she didn't do it then I believe her! No matter what, every defense attorney must give the defendant the benefit of the doubt, yet you're all claiming she's guilty without any evidence. If you ask me this is a terrible trial!"

Phoenix was speechless at the response; she couldn't believe there was someone willing to be there for her even at the grimmest of odds. Unconsciously a small smile formed on her face as she wiped away her tears from her eyes.  
Edgesworth smiled kindly back in return. Even if it was his lunch money that was stolen, he wasn't about to let anyone suffer for a crime they did not commit.

"Yeah I also say she didn't do it!" another voice yelled.

The class immediately turned their heads to see an orange-haired girl with her hair styled in a pixie cut, wearing a white tank top, brown shorts, and sandals with her feet propped up on her desk.  
When Phoenix saw the girl she crossed her arms and glared at her in annoyance. She knew her as her friend Lexie Butz who had mysteriously vanished when the teacher dragged her off after she had been accused of stealing the money. The dark-haired girl was angry that her friend had left her at the mercy of the classroom for what felt like ages and only deciding just now to show up.

The teacher remained silent as she glanced between the two children defending the accused child. Finally after a moment of thought she decided Phoenix was innocent since there was no proof that she had stolen the money.  
Phoenix grinned in relief before without warning she ran over to Edgeworth and hugged him tightly.

"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!" she exclaimed happily.

"Umm... you're hugging me a little too tight." Edgeworth replied, having a little trouble breathing from the bone-crushing hug.

The young girl blushed out of embarrassment before releasing her captive from her hug.

"Where's my hug?" Lexie asked with a frown.

Upon hearing this Phoenix immediately snarled before shoving Lexie to the ground and demanding where she had ran off to and how she was angry that she abandoned her in her time of need.  
Lexie rubbed her head with an embarrassed grin while she explained that she ran away from panic and when she heard what was happening she had ran back as fast as she could to the classroom.

"Of course, when something smells its usually the Butz." Phoenix grumbled in annoyance.

"Butz?" Edgeworth asked out of confusion.

Phoenix immediately spun around the face her classmate, surprised that he hadn't heard of the catchphrase with how much trouble Lexie always managed to get herself into.

"It's her name, Lexie Butz. She earned that catchphrase for all the trouble she attracts." she explained.

Upon hearing the explanation Edgeworth nodded his head in understanding before asking "Then what's your name?"

"Oh!" the young girl exclaimed in shock, realizing that she had forgotten to introduced herself during all that time they had been talking "I'm Phoenix, Phoenix Wright. But some of my friends call me Nix."

"Okay since I know your name now I will tell you mine, I'm Miles Edgeworth and I'm the son of a Defense Attorney." he introduced himself.

Phoenix's eyes widened in surprise, she now knew how the young boy was able to handle the class room trial was all because of his father. For the rest of the day the three children sat together talking amongst each other, learning more and more about each other as the day went on. Finally the sound of the school bell echoed through out the hallways, signifying the end of class.  
Phoenix started gathered up her supplies in her bug until she noticed Edgeworth walking out of the door with his bag. Panic ran through her mind as she hastily shoved the rest of her supplies in her bag and ran after him.

She shouted out his name once they were outside of the school building, causing the young boy to stop in his tracks. The dark-haired girl panted as she leaned over with her arms propped on her knees once she had caught up, trying to regain her breath. Once she felt she was okay she dug around in the left pocket of her shorts and pulled out a beaded bracelet with the Japanese text for "Phoenix" dangling from it as a charm. She grinned as she held it out in front of Edgeworth.

"I wanted to give you this as a thank you gift for defending me today." she admitted, "It's my lucky charm and I decided to let you have it as a sign of our friendship."

Edgeworth was speechless at the girl's kindness; he couldn't believe she was giving him a gift all because he defended her. That was when it dawned on him that Phoenix had no other friends other than Lexie and while Lexie wasn't mean, she wasn't exactly some one that could be considered an extremely good friend due to her troublemaker tendencies and to run away at the nearest sign of trouble. Meaning that Edgeworth was the first stranger to truly show Phoenix kindness. With a smile he accepted the gift and placed it in his jacket's pocket.

"Thanks, I guess I'll see you tomorrow, Phoenix." he said before walking away without another word.

Phoenix took in a deep breath as she looked up to the sky with a newly awakened realization, learning that no matter what, there can always be someone looking out for you and she wanted to be like Edgeworth and stand by the sides of those who had lost all hope. With her heart full of determination she had her mind set on what she was going to do, she was going to work hard to become a defense attorney.

Twelve years had passed since that day and Phoenix Wright was no longer the sobbing little girl she once was. She now was a young woman at the age of twenty-one, wearing a black shirt, blue jeans, white sneakers, and with her hair now long and pulled back into a ponytail. She had enrolled in college for an art degree as a back up plan for her career choice but that didn't stop her to continue studying for attorney work in preparation. Phoenix yawned as she pulled some books off of a shelf; she had gone to the court library to catch up trial procedure studies.

The dark-haired woman grunted as she balanced five books in her arms, beginning to regret grabbing so many. But right as she was fixing to walk away from the shelf, someone collided into her, causing the books to fly in the air for a few moments before scattering on the ground.

Phoenix groaned as she rubbed her head before yelling "Ow! Hey why don't you wa..."

But at that moment she immediately cut herself off when she saw sitting across from her was a man around her age with red hair pulled back into a short pony tail with brown eyes, wearing a white button-up shirt with his sleeves rolled up past his elbows, black slacks, and brown shoes. Phoenix swallowed hard as her heart pounded frantically in her chest, unsure what else to say.  
The red-headed man shook his head for a moment before he looked around the room in panic.

"Wha-what happened?" he asked.

Finally having regained her voice Phoenix nervously replied "Sorry, I guess you bumped into me."

The young man jumped in surprise at the sound of Phoenix's voice and quickly looked around the room for a few seconds till finally he managed to spot the young woman sitting in front of him. When he saw her he immediately let out a sigh of relief and formed a smug smile on his face.

"Of course how silly of me to not notice the beauty in the room." he said as he stood up.

Phoenix's face turned blood red at the compliment; she couldn't believe a man she had just met was referring to her as a beauty.

"Oh I should introduce myself, I'm Damian Hawthrone." the red-headed man greeted as he held out his hand, "What would your name be by any chance?"

"Ph-Ph-Phoenix Wright, but my friends call me Nix." she stuttered as she accepted Damian's hand and stood up.

Damian chuckled as he let a smirk form on his face. Without a word he reached into his slacks' pocket and pulled out a necklace with a small bottle shaped like a crystal.

"Think you can hold onto this for a while?" he asked.

Before Phoenix could give an answer the red-headed man had already placed the necklace around her neck. Immediately the dark-haired woman laughed nervously while rubbing the back of her head. She couldn't figure out any response with how straight forward the man before her was being. To her she was surprised to find herself in a scenario she thought only happened in bad romance novels.

"I'm counting on you, Nixie." Damian chuckled before finally leaving the library.

Once the young man was out of sight, Phoenix immediately released a sigh a relief as she leaned back against the library shelf. Her indigo blue eyes glanced down at the necklace that hung around her neck. She lifted up the bottle, running her thumb along the smooth glass before finally smiling.  
Damian dashed through the court hallways as fast as he could until he was seized by a couple of police officers. He clenched his teeth in anger until he heard footsteps approaching him. A dark grin formed on his face when he saw the owner of the footsteps was a brown-headed woman with brown eyes, wearing a black jacket and skirt, gray blouse, a white scarf, a beaded necklace with a tan yin charm, and white slippers.

The woman glared at the man before her with her eyes full of rage and heartbreak. She raised her hand up fixing to slap him but stopped herself at the last second when she remembered where she was.

"You did it didn't you!" the brown-headed woman yelled.

Damian laughed before replying "I don't know what on earth you're talking about, Mia Fey."

Mia clenched her teeth as her hands tightened in fists. She wanted to do nothing more than to punch what she considered a demon before her, especially after the pain he had caused to her and many others six months ago. Knowing that getting angry will only make things worse, Mia took in a deep breath to calm herself the best she could.

"Don't play dumb with me, Damian. I know what kind of person you are. I know you poisoned Diego because he came here to meet you and now he's dead from poisoning." she replied, venom dripping off each of her words.

Damian closed his eyes with a smug grin, knowing there wasn't much he could do to hide the fact that he did meet with Diego. He remained silent as he whipped his head to the side, causing his pony tail to fall on top of his shoulder.

Finally after a few moments of silence he spoke up "That may be true but I will say this..."

His brown eyes snapped open as he finished his sentence "You'll never find any evidence that'll prove I poisoned him."

Upon hearing this Mia narrowed her eyes both out of suspicion and anger; she didn't know what he meant by she'll never be able to find evidence to prove Damian was the one that poisoned Diego but she knew it couldn't be good.  
Later that day, Phoenix was back at her college which was called Ivy University. She was sitting in her dorm room constantly twiddling with the necklace Damian had given her in her hand. She couldn't figure out why she couldn't get the encounter with the mysterious man out of her head, or why a part of her felt a bit uneasy accepting the necklace with absolutely no objections.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard the door to her room slam open and a voice yell "Nix!"

Phoenix yelped out of shock as she fell out of her chair and crashed to the floor. She groaned as her vision spun a few seconds before clearing up once more. Even without clear vision, Phoenix didn't need it to know who shouted her name. She looked up to see her now twenty year-old friend Lexie standing over her with tears streaking down her face as she sobbed.

"Can you believe it?! Marty broke up with me for some brainy scientist. What does she got that I don't?" Lexie sobbed.

"How about brains for starters? Lexie almost everyday you come sobbing to me about your latest failed relationship. Why don't you admit that you stink at relationships." Phoenix grumbled as she sat up.

The moment the dark-haired woman uttered those words Lexie stopped crying and crossed her arms with an angry pout on her face.

"I do not stink at relationships. All those guys just don't know what good stuff they're dumping. The only guy that ever stayed around me the longest was Edgey." she replied.

Lexie's face froze when she realized what she had said. She glanced over at her friend to see she had grown quiet and was rubbing her arm. The two of them hadn't seen Edgeworth ever since he moved to Germany twelve years ago. Phoenix took in a deep breath as she recalled how he had closed himself off to everyone and didn't even want anyone to mention his father. She even tried to get in touch with him through many methods such as mail or cellphone, but unfortunately all her attempts at communication were ignored.

"Speaking of Edgey, did you ever get ahold of him? It would be nice to know how he's been doing since that... day." Lexie asked, taking a pause when she remembered the reason why Edgesworth cut himself from everyone.

"Lexie, you already know the answer to that. While it is true I heard Edgeworth returned a few months back, the only way he would talk to me again is in a courtroom. Hopefully as a defense attorney it would give me the chance to finally find out what has been going on." Phoenix replied with a sigh as she rubbed her hand against her forehead.

Lexie shrugged her shoulders, deciding to brush off the topic. She looked around on the floor and that was when she noticed the necklace. Without warning she gasped and scooped it up off of the floor, demanding to know where her friend got it. Due to not being quite too bright, Lexie thought the necklace was actually a diamond instead of a bottle and wanted to know how her friend got ahold of the supposed expensive jewelry.

"I met a guy named Damian and he gave it to me that's all." Phoenix replied.

But she quickly regretted revealing that information when Lexie instantly screamed loudly in her ear. The dark-headed instantly slapped her hands over her ears which were now throbbing in pain until finally her friend's scream quieted down.

"I can't believe you managed to hook a guy in just one day!" Lexie exclaimed, "Was he hot? Please tell me he was hot! Wait don't tell me that or you'll be torturing me because you're the one who got him!"

Phoenix's face turned blood red both from embarrassment and flattery.

"Well he was pretty cute." she muttered.

Lexie's eyes twitched in disbelief, but before she could say anything else a guy who had been walking by the room spotted her.

"Hey I got a restraining order against you! You aren't suppose to be within fifteen feet of this dorm!" the guy yelled in anger.

"Gah, I forgot about Reggie! See ya later, Nix!" Lexie yelled before dashing out of the room, panicking when she saw her ex-boyfriend angrily chasing after her.

Phoenix rolled her eyes before picking up the necklace her friend dropped and stood back up. While most times she brushed off Lexie's words as nonsense, this time she believed her friend was onto something. She couldn't figure out any other reason for the young man's action except for the possibility that he was attracted to her despite them just meeting. But that left her with the question of whether or not she wanted to pursue the relationship or not with the mysterious man. She closed her eyes in thought for a few moments before slipping the necklace on.

_"If I see him again I will get to know him more. Because this necklace had to be a sign of his love. Who would think I would get a boyfriend in less than a minute?"_ Phoenix thought to herself before opening up one of her books and returning to her studies.


	2. Chapter 2 - Complicated Love

Chapter 2

Mia leaned against the wall with her arms crossed, refusing to take her eyes off of the red-headed man that sat in the detention cell. She nearly felt like gagging when she saw the smug grin Damian constantly wore as he had his head propped up by his chin with his hands folded neatly together. She didn't even have to ask why he was smiling to know he was doing it simply because of the fact he believed he was going to be released soon.

"So I heard that you paid for Tammy Fawles to have a funeral." Damian spoke up, "Funny how you wanted a murderer to have a nice goodbye."

Without warning Mia instantly ran over to the glass that separated her and the young man and smashed her fist against it with an angry yell.

"She was no murderer and what happened that day was your fault! You manipulated her into committing suicide!" she snarled.

Damian formed a bored look on his face as he slicked back some of his bangs that managed to fall out of place, mentioning how the defense lawyer before him had no evidence to prove he had caused anything that day.  
Mia squeezed her eyes shut as the memory of Tammy Fawles' death rushed into her mind. She recalled how horrified everyone in the courtroom was as they watched the woman with a shaved head in a prison uniform collapse on the defendant's bench as she began violently coughing up blood. She remembered the pale and terrified look on the prosecutor's face as they both watched the woman die before their very eyes. The last words Tammy uttered was an apology to Damian for failing to keep his secret.

When she had calmed down enough, Mia opened up her eyes once more while taking in a deep breath. The room remained silent until she heard the door open behind her. She immediately turned around to see a large detective with black hair, a bandage on his cheek, and a few whiskers on his chin, wearing a tan trench coat, a white shirt and black tie, brown pants, and black shoes entered the room.

"So what's the final verdict, Detective Gumshoe?" Mia asked with her hand gestured out.

Gumshoe let out an annoyed and tired sigh as he rubbed his neck "I know you ain't going to like this but we have to let the guy go."

"What?!" the brown-headed woman exclaimed in shock, "But he can't be released, he poisoned Diego!"

The detective flinched from how loud the lawyer's yelling was before replying "Me and the boys searched that court high and low and there was no sign of any poison bottle. With no proof, this guy can't be held responsible."

Mia bit her lip hard in anger, trying to resist the urge to scream in rage. She glanced back to see Damian smirking as a cop unlocked the door to the detention center. She hated that for the second time she saw the horrible demon walk away unpunished for a crime he committed.

"Well this has been quite the interesting experience but now I think I go and meet up with my girlfriend." he chuckled before leaving the room.

Upon hearing this Mia's eyes widened in surprise and realization. She knew what the word girlfriend meant to the red-headed man and it wasn't in the romantic sense. Without a word the defense attorney left the room as she shoved past Gumshoe, now knowing that Damian had an accomplice on the day of the murder.

Meanwhile at Prosecutor's Office, a now twenty-one year old Edgeworth wearing a red suit with gold trimming and black shoes let out a tired sigh as he tossed some files for the SL-9 case on his desk. He had agreed to help the prosecutor for the case Neil Marshall to look over them for any clues to help place the murderer behind bars. As he took off his jacket and laid it on the back of his chair, he noticed his phone's message light was constantly beeping. He pressed the play button immediately to be greeted by the sound of Phoenix's voice telling him that she wanted to talk and wanted him to answer his phone calls. Without any second thoughts Edgeworth deleted all the messages before sitting down at his desk.

"When will that woman give up?" he muttered as he leaned his head on his hand and pulled out some case files on his previous cases.

He barely gave a glance at the files as he mindlessly flipped through them, but after going through a few files his body immediately froze when he saw the file he currently held in his hand was the Valerie Hawthorne murder case. The grayish-brown haired man took in a deep breath as he moved his hand up to his forehead and pushed his bangs out of his eyes.

"My first case and it ended with that terrible sight of that woman committing suicide. I want to believe she committed suicide to avoid going to prison, but she chose to take her own life when that defense lawyer had almost completely proven her innocence. It shouldn't be none of my business yet I can't help but recall her final words." he muttered to himself.

But unfortunately Edgeworth didn't get to ponder long when his phone started ringing. He grumbled in annoyance, already knowing that it was Phoenix attempting to contact him. Just like the previous times he refused to pick up the phone and allowed it to go to message.

"Hey, Edgeworth, just thought I would try to get ahold of you again against my better judgement." Phoenix said with the hint of frustration and disappointment in her voice, "I just really wish you would tell me what's been going on with you. I've seen the papers, Edgeworth, I read how people are calling you a demon prosecutor that makes shady deals and pulls every dirty trick in the book to get your verdict."

The prosecutor huffed as he rolled his eyes due to the fact he heard many people comment about the news articles to him.

"And I just want to say I don't believe that's you. But you got to clear up things still. Please, Edgeworth, you haven't spoken me since that day. I just want to know whatever happened to the boy who defended me that day in class. Please contact me soon, I want to know." she finished, her voice cracking a bit when she mentioned the past.

With that Phoenix hung up and the phone emitted a loud beep to indict the end of the message.  
Edgeworth stared silently at the phone for a few moments before deleting the message. He groaned as he leaned back in his chair, wishing that his former childhood friend would stop checking up on him. All he wanted to do was forget his past; he didn't want to remember the nightmare that has continued to haunt him to that day.

"I try to forget that awful day yet she keeps digging it back up." Edgeworth groaned as he slipped his hand in his pocket and pulled out the bracelet Phoenix had given to him as a child, "Maybe the reason she won't give up is the same reason for why I continued to keep this charm despite the horrible memories it carries."

He closed his eyes as his hand tightened around the bracelet, wondering if he could ever escape the day of his father's death.

Later that day Phoenix was struggling to hold her books in her arms as she was headed to the art department. She had lost track of time and was running late for her class.

_"I never want to become an artist!" _she thought upon entering the classroom and sitting down at her desk.

The dark-haired woman ran her fingers through her hair as she listened to the art teacher mention to the students how they were to study ancient paintings from a civilization known as the Azran for a comparison on how art as evolved over the ages. Because of not having much interest in the subject, Phoenix decided to look around the room. Everything seemed normal until she spotted something from the corner of her eye that made her freeze in shock. There standing in the hallway was none other than Damian. She raised a brow in confusion as she watched him look back and forth with a worried expression on his face. Deciding to figure out what was happening, Phoenix immediately jumped out of her desk, ignoring the teacher's yells as she ran out of the classroom.

Once in the hallway, the young woman stared at the red-headed man who hadn't noticed her yet before exclaiming "Damian!"

Damian jumped a bit from being startled before spinning around to face Phoenix. A worried frown was plastered on his face for a few seconds before finally he forced a smile on his face and waved his hand.

"Ah, Nixie, it's so good to see!" he greeted, "Do you still have that necklace I gave you?"

Phoenix nodded her head before tugging on the necklace's string and pulling the bottle out of her shirt.

"I haven't took it off since you gave it to me. I even showed it to a couple of people." she replied.

Upon hearing this Damian flinched as his hand clenched tightly into a fist.  
Phoenix tilted her head in confusion upon witnessing this. She didn't know why but she sensed that the Damian before her was very different from the one she met in the courthouse. That Damian she remembered being suave and devilish while the one before her seems shy and a bit nervous. She found the personality change strange but decided to brush it off as Damian acting like that only because she was the only one in the room at the time and that he has more confidence with less people.

The dark-haired woman was immediately awakened from her thoughts when she heard Damian ask "Can you give it back now?"

"Give back the sign of your love?! For what reason?" Phoenix exclaimed in shock as her hands immediately clasped around the bottle.

"L-l-l-lo-lo-lov-love?!" Damian shrieked as his face turned bright red.

At that moment the red-headed man immediately grabbed at his ponytail and began pulling it in a frantic manner with a panicked look on his face. He wanted the necklace back but with Phoenix thinking it was a gift of love; he wasn't quite sure how he was going to get it back. He kept panicking till he felt two slender hands grab ahold of his shoulders and shake him. He shook his head, calming his nerves, allowing him to see Phoenix staring at him with worry. He swallowed the lump that managed to form in his throat nervously as his brown eyes stared into her indigo eyes.

The two didn't say a word until the art classroom door slammed open and the teacher began scolding Phoenix for leaving. Phoenix formed an embarrassed grin on her face as she slowly let go of Damian's shoulders.

"Guess I better head back to class." she muttered as she rubbed the back of her neck.

But before she could walk in immediately Damian grabbed her by her wrist.

"Wait what about the necklace?" he asked with his eyes full of fear and dread.

Phoenix couldn't prevent the giggle from escaping her mouth before replying "We'll talk at lunch. See you later, Demy."

Damian's mouth dropped open and his face turned red at the nickname he had received before he watched the young woman walk back into her classroom. Once she was out of sight he dug his fingers into his red hair with his teeth tightly clenched together.

_"This isn't good. How am I supposed to get that necklace from her? I'll be in deep trouble if I don't get it back." _Damian thought to himself, _"Well she seems to like me so I guess I'll have another chance. I just hope I get that necklace back soon."_

Six months had passed and Damian still didn't manage to get ahold of the necklace. The two were laughing as they sat net to each other at a lunch table, enjoying each other's company.

"And then Lexie ended up running up on stage trying to get away from an angry actress who wanted her to stop pestering her boyfriend. The audience was so confused when Lexie interrupted the show with her yelling as she kept running circles around the different actors to get away."

Damian nearly spitted out his drink before quickly swallowing it and bursting into laughter. Over the six months Damian spent more and more time visiting Phoenix and during that time he found himself constantly growing closer and closer to her. He stopped laughing as he reached in his bag and pulled out a pink sweater with a large red heart on the front with the letter P on it.

"I knitted this for since I noticed you didn't seem to have any sweaters." he commented as he held out the sweater.

"Oh, Damian, that's so sweet of you." Phoenix replied before slipping on the sweater.

She did have to admit to herself to herself she looked like a goofball with it on but she didn't care since it was a gift from her boyfriend. The dark-haired woman smiled as she grasped ahold of her boyfirend's hand. But much to her surprise she felt Damian tighten his hand around her's a bit as he tilted his head down and stared at the table.

"I really care for you, Nixie, and I'm scared something is going to happen to you." he whispered.

"You worry too much, Demy, but it's still cute how much you care." Phoenix replied with a small smile.

Damian smiled back before taking in a deep shaky breath. He said nothing until he noticed the dark-haired woman before him started coughing. He remembered that she had caught a cold a few days back because she had slept with her dorm room window open, thinking it was warm enough outside and got sick because of the cold air.  
Phoenix sniffed her nose a few times before picking her backpack up from the floor and began digging through it. But as she did this her eyes widened in shock before she frantically started dig her arms around in her bag.

"My cold medicine Coldkiller X is gone!" she exclaimed.

"Wait it's gone?" Damian asked out of surprise.

Phoenix searched the bag a few more times to make sure before lifting up her head and nodding.  
The red-headed man glanced nervously at the floor before saying that he needed to go somewhere. He bid his girlfriend farewell before getting out of his chair and leaving the lunch room.  
Phoenix was confused by her boyfriend's actions as she placed her backpack back on the ground. But as she went back to eating her lunch, she failed to see the man with red hair smirking as he held the cold medicine in his hand.

Many hours had passed and nightfall covered the university. Dark storms clouds had moved in, covering the area in a large rain downpour. Phoenix stared at the rain dripping down her closed window as she worked on some of her school assignments. Next to her was Lexie who was laying on her friend's bed, talking about how her relationship with the university campus security ended in disaster.

"So long story short, they threatened that if I ever step foot on campus I would be arrested." Lexie said as she placed her arms behind her head with a huff.

"Yet you did so anyway." Phoenix stated with a raised brow.

"Hey I ain't in trouble unless I get caught!" the orange-haired girl immediately responded.

Phoenix groaned both in frustration and exhaustion as she threw her head in both of her hands. She still couldn't believe her friend still attracted so much unwanted attention to herself for so many years.

_"It's like she wants to keep that catchphrase she earned in elementary school. At this rate with how much trouble she gets in I may have to defend her in court. Please never let it come down to that." _she thought to herself as she rubbed her forehead.

All of the sudden Phoenix was startled by her cellphone ringing loudly. She picked up her cellphone and was shocked when she saw the caller ID was Doug Swallow, a pharmacology student that she had seen talking to Damian sometimes.

"Why on earth is Doug calling me? I barely know him." Pheonix asked out loud.

Upon hearing mention of a boy's name Lexie immediately jumped off the bed and ran over to her friend in excitement.

"Answer it answer it! It's always a good sign when a guy calls you late at night!" the orange-haired woman exclaimed.

Phoenix narrowed her brows and glared at her friend, not only because she consider Lexie's logic stupid but also because of the fact she already had a boyfriend and wasn't about to cheat behind his back. But despite this, she was curious of why the pharmacology student was calling her at such a late hour. Deciding to find out she pressed the answer button and held the phone up to her ear. When she asked why he was calling late, Phoenix was taken back when Doug demanded that she meet him behind the pharmacology immediately. Before Phoenix could ask why the student had already hung up.

"You have no idea how much a wish I was in your shoes right now." Lexie remarked with a frown and her arms firmly crossed.

"Well I guess it won't hurt to see what he wants." Phoenix said with a sigh as she got out of her chair and headed for the door.

"Be sure to tell me all the juicy details!" Lexie shouted out as her friend left the room and slammed the door loudly behind her.

Once outside Phoenix sneezed loudly as the rain began to drench her entire body, making her regret not owning a umbrella. But despite this the dark-haired woman jammed her hands in her pocket and made her way to the meeting place. The young woman was surrounded by no sounds except the poruing rain and her foot splashing in the puddle as she approached her destination, giving her the feeling of unease. Pheonix headed for the back of the building and sure enough Doug Swallow who was a brown-headed man with brown eyes, wearing a red leather jacket, black pants, and white shoes was waiting for her while he held an umbrella over his head.

"Glad to see you came." he said in a stern tone.

"Yeah, now could you tell me why you had me come around ten at night in a rain storm." Phoenix said as he shook her head, trying to get her drenched bangs out of her eyes.

"Alright, I'll get straight to the point. Stop seeing, Damian Hawthorne." Doug replied.

Phoenix eyes widened and she stopped breathing as she heard the man before her claim that her boyfriend was a cruel and terrible person that uses everyone around him, explaining how he used to be friends with him until he noticed that he had stolen some chemicals from the lab and on the same day the chemicals went missing the news mentioned how a lawyer was killed with poison. The dark-haired woman took in ragged breaths, refusing to believe the man she spent six months with was a cruel murderer.

"So for you're own health I suggest you stay away from that dirt bag at all costs." Doug finished before starting to walk away.

Phoenix's entire body shook with rage as her hands tightened into fists and her teeth were tightly clenched together.

Finally without warning she screamed "No! Shut up you liar!" before charging toward and slamming into him.

But because of the ground being slippery from the rain, the two ended up smashing against the electricity pole near them. Phoenix cried out when her head smashed against the metal, causing her vision to black out as her now unconscious body collapsed on the ground. The last thing she heard before losing all of her senses was a loud snap.

Phoenix groaned as she slowly opened her indigo eyes, her head throbbing in pain and her body freezing from being in the rain for so long. She let out a groan as she forced herself into a sitting position and wondered how long she was unconscious. Once her vision cleared up, she gasped and instantly crawled backwards a bit at the sight that lay before her. Lying on the ground on his stomach was the dead body of Doug Swallow with a horrified Damian kneeling down next to him.

"Nixie, why did you kill him?" Damian asked in a hoarse whisper.

"Ki-ki-kill him?! I-I-I couldn't have! I just shoved him!" Phoenix stuttered in fear and disbelief.

"Nixie, I can't believe you." the red-headed man said with his eyes squeezed shut.

At that moment a couple of police officers arrived on the scene, it was at that moment it dawned on Phoenix that her boyfriend had called the cops.

"Officers arrest her! She's the murderer!" Damian commanded.

The dark-haired woman's face turned pale as a couple of officers seized her by her arms and handcuffed her wrists. Many thoughts were racing through her mind, trying to process the fact she was getting arrested for a murder she did not commit. As the officers began dragging her away; her mind shifted in survival mode as she began struggling in attempt to get free.

"No please don't! I didn't kill him! I'm not a murderer!" Phoenix screamed at the top of her lungs.

But despite her protests, no one would believe her. In their eyes she was only a lying murderer trying to escape justice.


	3. Chapter 3 - Meet the Client

Chapter 3

Mia sat down in her office chair as she jabbed her chopsticks into a cup of instant noodles. She carefully snagged up some noodles with her chopsticks before placing them in her mouth and turning on the TV. During the course of six months, the defense attorney hadn't taken any other cases. She wanted to save her energy for the one she wanted to finally be placed behind bars and that was Damian Hawthorne. As she scooped up another helping of noodles, she heard the news reporter talk about a murder at a university. Mia barely paid attention to the news story until she heard the reporter mention the name of the one who called the police. At that moment she immediately slammed down her instant noodle cup and grabbed the TV report, tuning up the volume.

"I'm here with the university student who alerted the police of this murder." the blonde-haired female news reporter said as she stood next to none other than Damian Hawthorne, "So, Mr. Hawthorne, can you tell us exactly what happened."

"Oh it was simply awful." Damian replied in a fake horrified tone, "I was on my way back from picking up some books I left in class last night and I saw my best friend lying dead on the ground with that girl starting to get off of the ground. I was so terrified of the sight that I immediately called the cops."

The news reporter nodded her head before turning toward the camera and stating "The murder suspect, Phoenix Wright was arrested last night shortly after the murder. Phoenix Wright's trial for the murder of Doug Swallow shall be held this afternoon."

Wasting no time, Mia immediately grabbed her phone and called Grossberg Law Offices. She already had her mind set that she was going to take the case. There was no doubt in her mind that if Damian was involved, he had to committed the crime. The phone rang for a few seconds till finally a male voice came from the other side.

"Grossberg Law Offices, this is Grossberg speaking." he said.

"Grossberg, have you seen the news?" Mia asked.

"Ah yes about that girl from Ivy University. I did receive a call from the police station to assign a lawyer for her since she doesn't have one but of course I hadn't made a decision yet." Grossberg replied.

"Good because I want to represent her." the brown-headed woman replied.

At that moment Mia heard the sounds of coughing, spitting, and gasping come from the phone the moment she uttered those words. She knew her employer had to be surprised that after a year of refusing to take cases ever since her first trial. The sounds continued for a few more seconds till finally Grossberg calmed down. Mia was surprised when she got no response, leaving her surrounded by silence.

But her surprise quickly vanished when Grossberg exclaimed "Ms. Fey, are you quite sure? You only have represented one case and that was at least a year ago. I think it would be better if I chose a more experienced attorney to take one this case."

"I understand your concerns but it's really important that I take this case. I have to represent that girl." Mia said in a stern tone.

Grossberg took in a deep breath, knowing that no matter what he said would change Mia's decision. He knew she was bound determined to take the case despite having little experience under her belt. Deciding further arguing would be pointless, he agreed to her request and told her how she could meet her client at the Police's Detention Center.  
Mia thanked him before immediately hanging up the phone. With her position on the case guaranteed all that was left for her was to start gathering facts. Without a word she grabbed her brown coat off of her coatrack and dashed out of her office.

It didn't take long for the defense attorney to reach the detention center. Once inside her brown eyes settled upon young woman sitting curled up in a corner on the floor. Mia let out a frustrated sigh as she sat down in a chair and knocked her hand against the glass.  
Phoenix's head immediately shot up when she heard the knocking before she turned it to where she was facing Mia. She didn't say a word to the lawyer as she slowly got up off the floor and sat down in her chair. Her eyes were full of hurt and confusion as she tug on one of the sleeves of her pink sweater.

"So you're Phoenix Wright, correct?" Mia asked as she gestured out her hand.

"Yes and I'm also the one suspected of murder." Phoenix replied as the grip on her sleeve tightened.

"Well I don't believe that." the brown-headed woman replied as she crossed her arms, "My name is Mia Fey and I will be representing you in today's trial. I'm going to prove that you didn't murder Doug Swallow."

Upon hearing this Phoenix's eyes widen in surprise as she noted the scenario before her was similar to the one she found herself in school, only this time Edgeworth wasn't there to help her.

"Alright, I'll tell you what happened. I didn't know the guy and he was already dead when I arrived at the scene." she partly lied.

The dark-haired woman bit her lip as she tried to do her best to not let her eyesight wonder around the room. She was terrified of telling anyone even her lawyer the truth. She feared that if anyone knew that she had went and talked with Doug Swallow that night that it would only make it seem like she really did murder him. When Mia asked her if she was telling the complete truth, Phoenix rapidly nodded her head, convinced that she wouldn't be found guilty as long as she didn't allow the whole truth to come into the light.

Mia raised a brow in suspicion at the girl's claims. While she always believed to trust her clients to tell the truth; she couldn't help but feel that Phoenix was lying to her. She only hoped that her suspicions would be proved wrong in court.

A few hours later, the time for the fated trial had arrived. Phoenix swallowed a lump nervously as she constantly paced around in the defense waiting room. She knew if she was found guilty it would be much worse of a punishment than the one the school was going to make her go through as a kid. Just from thinking about it, the young woman's breathing picked up rapidly and began echoing out through the room. Her panicked breathing only lasted a few seconds due to her cold causing her to immediately start coughing.

Phoenix didn't calm down until she felt Mia rest her hand on her shoulder which only prompted her to release a loud yelp of surprise before spinning around to face her.

"Hey calm down!" Mia said with the best encouraging smile she could give, "I'm nervous too but it won't do us any good to go in there with jittery nerves. You're innocent and you need to have faith that I will pull through for you. I promise you that you will be walking out of here with a not guilty verdict."

The dark-haired young woman took in a deep breath before nodding her head in understanding. Before anyone could say anything else the bailiff entered the room and announced the trial would be starting.

At that moment Mia shouted "Wait I'm not ready yet!" in a panicked tone.

Phoenix jumped back a few steps in surprise from her lawyer. She couldn't believe the person who had told her to calm down and not panic was panicking at that very moment. She couldn't help but laugh a bit at the sight, making her forgot where she was for a moment. Without any other words the two were ushered into the courtroom. Phoenix bit her lip nervously, wishing she could pull her pink sweater over her hide to hide herself from the angry glares of the courtroom audience as she was led over to the defense bench.

Mia kept taking in deep and calm breaths as she moved behind the defense desk and stood next to Grossberg.  
The entire courtroom remained silent as the judge who was a bald-headed man with a long gray bread and wore a black robe sat down in his chair. He pounded his gavel against his desk a few times as he announced the beginning of the trial.

"Is the prosecution ready?" the judge asked.

Standing behind the prosecution desk was a man with black hair styled in a pompadour, wearing a green suit and glasses. He snickered as he pushed his glasses higher up on the bridge of his nose with his index finger.

"Of course your honor, I'll have this kid squealing guilty in no time." he smirked.

"That's good to hear, Prosecutor Payne. Now is the defense ready?" the judge replied.

"Yes your honor." Mia responded in a stern tone.

When the judge saw the brown-haired woman respond he blinked in both shock and confusion.

"Excuse me miss, but I was under the impression that Mr. Grossberg was going to represent the defendant." he said.

Mia smiled nervously before replying "Oh he had an emergency come up."

But the lawyer's nervousness quickly turned into embarrassment when the judge pointed out how Grossberg was standing right next to her. She groaned in frustration as she slapped both of her hands against her forehead, realizing that she hadn't completely gotten over her nerves about stepping into a courtroom once more. But fortunately for the defense attorney, Prosecutor Payne convinced the judge to allow her to defend Phoenix due to the fact he was convinced he was going to win the trial either way.

"Well alright since that has been settled let's move on. Now what is this trial about?" the judge said.

Mia cleared her throat to get rid of the last of her nerves before answering "Last night around three o'clock, Doug Swallow was found dead on campus grounds. His death was caused by electrocution. My client Phoenix Wright is the suspected murderer."

"But I didn't do it! I'm innocent!" Phoenix shouted in fear.

The judge slammed his gavel before scolded the young woman "Ms. Wright, please refrain from these outbursts or you will be held in contempt of the court."

The dark-haired young woman frowned before sneezing loudly and prompting her to dig some tissues out of her pocket.

"Alright, Prosecutor Payne, you may now call upon your first witness." the judge said.

"With pleasure, Your Honor. I call upon Ms. Phoenix Wright to take the stand." the prosecutor replied with a small chuckle.

Both Phoenix and Mia froze in shock upon hearing those words. Mia bit her thumb with uncertainty, not sure if she should allow her client to take the stand. But she quickly shoved away her doubts when she reminded herself of she believed the young woman was innocent and her testimony shouldn't contain any lies. Without any seconds thoughts Mia agreed to the request, allowing Phoenix to take the witness stand.  
The dark-haired young woman's heart raced in fear as her indigo eyes constantly darted around the room in fear. She hated how everyone was focused on her with accusing glares.

"Ms. Wright, please state your name and occupation." Payne said as he ran one of his hands across his pompadour.

"Um, my name is Phoenix Wright and I was a University Student but I guess now all I am is a suspect." Phoenix replied with a small grin.

"Right of course, now please, Ms. Wright, tell us what you know about the victim Doug Swallow." the prosecutor said with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

The young woman nodded her head in understanding. She took in a deep breath before explaining how Doug Swallow was already dead when she arrived at the scene of the crime. She also added in how she had no motive to kill a person she barely knew and considered him a stuck-up British wannabe.  
Mia sighed in relief when she saw the judge agree with the statement but her relief quickly vanished when she saw Payne was snickering to himself with his arms crossed.

"I'm sorry, Mia, but I think it's too early to relax now. I think Prosecutor Payne noticed the contradiction in that girl's testimony as well." Grossberg whispered with a frown.

The brown-headed woman eyes widened before she thought back to her client's word, trying to find the contradiction. It only took her a few seconds to realize Phoenix's slip up; she remembered how the young woman referred Doug Swallow as a stuck-up British wannabe yet she couldn't have possibly known that if she barely knew the victim like she claimed. She clenched her teeth in anger as her brown eyes focused on her client, angry that the young woman before her was choosing to lie on the stand. Despite being her lawyer, Mia knew she couldn't let any lie slip by and pointed out the contradiction.

When the contradiction was pointed out to her Phoenix remained silent for a few seconds before sneezing loudly once more. She felt like slapping her forehead for shedding light on such an obvious lie. In attempt to try to avoid being connected to the crime once more, Phoenix revised her testimony, claiming she was able to know Doug Swallow was trying to be British because she had seen the union Jack on the back of his shirt. The dark haired girl grinned in satisfaction but her grin slowly faded away when she saw Mia glaring at her before glancing down at her Court Records.

The defense attorney narrowed her eyes in anger before jabbed out her index finger in front of her while shouting "Objection! Ms. Wright I was under the impression that you had stumbled upon the body like you claimed to me. But now I can see now that's a lie because if that were true you wouldn't be able to know what was on the back of the victim's shirt because he was wearing a jacket at the time of his death!"

Phoenix's lip quivered for a bit until finally she burst into tears, her sobs echoing throughout the courtroom.

"Ms. Fey, you just made your client cry?!" Grossberg exclaimed in shock.

"Oh I don't care, with how she's acting the letter P on her sweater doesn't describe her name but rather something else." Mia snarled in anger, "She lied to me, so she brought this onto herself."

While the defense lawyer was still scowling at her bawling client, Payne was laughing while he had his hand pushed against his pompadour causing it to stick higher in the air.

"Why thank you, rookie!" he mocked, "I easily noticed the first contradiction in the suspect's testimony but I hadn't noticed the second one. Thank you for doing all the work for me and proving that the defendant was absolutely with the victim before the crime."

Mia's anger slowly faded when she saw Phoenix wiping away her tears with her sleeve as the look of defeat was on her face. Her brown eyes glanced down at the floor in guilt, feeling slightly bad that she had done the opposite of what she had promised and was crushing the young woman's hopes of being found innocent. Mia clenched her fists as determination began to burn in her eyes. She knew Phoenix had to be innocent despite lying about when she found the body and intended to expose the true killer. Her only hope was that Phoenix wouldn't continue telling lies and give herself a worse image.

"Ms. Wright, I'm giving you chance to explain what actually happened that night." the judge said in a stern tone.

"Yes, your honor." Phoenix replied with a sigh of defeat, "Last night I received a call from Doug to meet him at two-forty-five that night behind the pharmacology building. We both arrived at the appointed time. We talked for a bit and I left shortly before three-o'clock. I realized I had forgot something and when I went back he was already dead."

Just as she finished her testimony, the young woman entered another sneezing fit caused by her cold.

"I notice you have quite the cold there. Don't you have medicine for that?" Payne said, his voice dripping with slyness.

The dark-haired women blew her nose before answering "Yeah, it's called Coldkiller X but I lost it."

The prosecutor chuckled as he adjusted his glasses, making both Phoenix and Mia at little worried at the response.

"I thought so because at the scene of the crime in Doug Swallow's hand we found none other than a bottle of Coldkiller X, and that bottle was covered in the suspect's fingerprints. Obviously Ms. Wright dropped the bottle and the victim grabbed it to show who murdered him. We can also prove what time the victim was murdered since a surge of electricity caused his watch to stop." he replied with a smug grin.

"What?! That's impossible!" Phoenix exclaimed in shock as she slammed her hands on the witness stand, "I lost my pills around lunch time, hours before I met with Doug Swallow! There's no way that my pills should have been there!"

The judge slammed the gavel on his desk before stating "I'm sorry Ms. Wright but with your previous false testimony I find it hard to take your word as the truth."

Mia clenched her teeth as she watched her client's face turn pale in fear as she allowed herself to slump over the witness stand a bit. Silently she looked down at her court records, knowing she had to act fast otherwise she wouldn't be able to turn the trial around in her favor. She flipped through the many files, trying to find the perfect objection to save her client. That was when she noticed something in the crime scene focus. Right behind the dead body of the victim was a broken power line. She remembered how Phoenix explained in her testimony that the Pharmacology students worked with electricity and that the building was surrounded by many power lines because of it.

"Well now that we know that the defendant had met with the victim before his death that leaves one question, how was the victim murdered?" the judge replied.

"Well... uh.. we don't exactly know that, your honor." Payne replied nervously.

"But I can answer that." Mia spoke up, prompting the whole courtroom to direct their attention to her, "If you would take another look at the crime scene photo, you can see a broken wire behind the victim. In Ms. Wright's testimony she stated the building runs high voltage equipment and as a result the building has many power lines. Doug Swallow was murdered with that broken power line, hence the electrocution."

"Heh then I guess that explains my next set of evidence." Payne chuckled in a victorious tone.

"Wh-what are you talking about?" the defense attorney asked, stuttering a bit in worry.

"Why the final evidence proving the Phoenix Wright murdered Doug Swallow and that was her fingerprints that were found on the victim's chest. On the leather jacket there is clearly imprints of two hands with the suspect's fingerprints. Meaning that the suspect shoved the victim into the power line and killed him."

The whole court room gasped and whispered in shock and disgust, having no doubt in their minds that the young woman in the witness stand was the murderer.

"I knew that girl was guilty from the start." Grossberg muttered to himself.

"No, she isn't guilty! Ms. Wright, you have to tell the whole truth! I know you didn't kill him but if you don't speak I can't help you!" Mia shouted in worry.

Phoenix bit her lip nervously as her hands clenched tightly into fists.

"Well I don't see why this trial should go any longer. I pronounce the defendant..." the judge started to say.

But then at that moment the dark-haired young woman squeezed her eyes shut before shouting "Wait, I confess I did it!"

The entire courtroom fell silent in shock as all eyes settled upon the person staring at woman in the witness stand.  
Phoenix took in a shaky breath as she blindly clasped her hand around her necklace which was still hidden underneath her sweater. She had finally revealed the truth and knew there was no turning back for her. Mia Fey believed in her and that helped her give her the courage to finally tell the truth without fear.

"Doug Swallow had called me to meet him that night. He began claiming terrible things about Demy." Phoenix explained, "I just got so angry at him that I shoved myself into him. The rain made the ground slick so my head ended up smashing against the power pole, knocking me out in the process. Before I passed out I heard a loud sound. By the time I woke up Doug Swallow was already dead."

"Wait a loud sound, can you remember what that sound was?" Mia asked.

"I think it was something like 'SNAP'!" the dark-haired woman answered.

The defense closed her eyes in silence as she processed the new information.

"Well obviously the sound she heard was the victim getting electrocuted." Payne argued.

Mia's eyes snapped open as she stated how that couldn't be the case since the electrocution wouldn't have made a snap sound.  
All of the sudden without warning, Phoenix gasped loudly when it dawned on her what might had caused the loud snap. She remembered how Doug Swallow had a cheap, plastic umbrella with him and that he had dropped it when she slammed into him. There was no doubt in the young woman's mind that the loud snap sound was created by Doug falling on top of his umbrella and breaking it.

Mia didn't say a words as she glanced through her files on the case once more. As she examined the photo of the crime scene, a victorious smirk formed on her face as she brushed her bangs out of her eyes.

"Ms. Wright, why didn't you mention this in the first place?" she asked.

"Well I..." Phoenix started to say.

But she didn't get to finish her sentence because of her lawyer proudly proclaiming "Because if I had known those facts earlier, I would have easily defended you from Prosecutor Payne's accusations. By looking at the crime photo you can see the umbrella is indeed broken, yet not only is it not underneath the victim but it is also a few feet away from his body. Meaning that Doug Swallow was still alive when you slammed into him!"

The whole courtroom, including the defendant exclaimed in shock with their eyes wide in disbelief.

"Objection! The wind could have simply blew the umbrella away from the body!" Payne replied as nervous sweat constantly began dripping down his forehead.

Mia shook her head with her grin never leaving her face, stating that it was impossible since the umbrella was indeed broken from the fall and had Doug Swallow really died when Phoenix slammed into him, the umbrella should have still been trapped underneath his body. With this new fact revealed, the judge had the umbrella submitted as evidence and stated that with the small doubt remaining, he is unable to hand down a verdict.  
Phoenix released a loud sigh of relief as she placed her hand on her chest.

"N-N-N-NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Payne screamed as he grabbed a chunk full of his hair and pulled painfully.

"Well done, Mia! I knew you could do it!" Grossberg cheered as he patted the defense attorney on the back.

The prosecutor continued to pull at his hair until he froze in realization. Immediately he began chuckling as he let go of his hair.

"Oh how foolish of me to think I could prove the suspect's guilt with cross-examination alone. It's time I called in my second witness, he was the one to witness the crime before his very eyes and called the police. I call upon Damian Hawthorne to take the stand!" Payne said with a smug grin.

"Demy?" Phoenix said as her face turned pale in fear and her voice cracked in disbelief.

Mia narrowed her eyes and one of her hands tightly clenched into fist. The moment she had been waiting for had finally come, Damian Hawthorne would take the stand once more. She took in a deep breath to clear her mind while she heard the judge announce a twenty minute recess.

_"This is it Mia, the chance to finally put that demon where he belongs. I won't let him walk away for a third time and I will make sure he doesn't take another life." _she thought to herself, _"And that's a promise."_


	4. Chapter 4 - Damian vs Mia

Chapter 4

"Well I admit that was quite a close call. I'm very happy how you turned the whole case around." Grossberg commented as he patted Mia's back.

"But it's not over yet, I'll have to pull out all the stops if I want to win," the brown-headed replied with her arms crossed.

"But we shouldn't have to worry. Demy is the next witness and he'll prove my innocence." Phoenix stated with a smile.

Upon hearing this Mia instantly shouted "Prove your innocence?! He's the one that had you arrested in the first place!"

Phoenix ducked down a bit in fear. She hadn't expected her defense attorney to shout at her like that. While she knew Damian was the that had the police take her away for Doug Swallow's murder, she was still convinced that her boyfriend would come through for her. The young woman couldn't find it possibly that a sweet guy that she had spent six months with would have her placed behind bars for a crime she did not commit.  
Mia inhaled sharply through her nose in an attempt to calm herself down; she knew getting angry at her client wouldn't help her win the case.

Once she calmed down enough she asked "Tell me, Ms. Wright, did you meet Damian Hawthorne on August twenty-seventh in this court?"

Phoenix's eyes widened slightly before replying "Yeah I did, but how did you know that?"

The defense attorney closed her eyes with confirmation as she opened up her briefcase and pulled out an old newspaper article.

"Six months ago, there was a murder in this court." she said in a stern tone.

The dark-haired twenty-one year-old's hands shook as she grasped the newspaper tightly, reading about how a defense lawyer named Diego Armando was murdered by poison consumption. The police had searched everywhere for any signs of how the poison was planted but wasn't able to find any clues before finally giving up. Without a word Phoenix slowly lowered the newspaper in shock; not only she couldn't believe such a horrible tragedy took place in the same area as her and she had no idea but she also was horrified that the crime was the same one that Doug Swallow had claimed that Damian committed.  
Grossberg closely examined the newspaper before scratching his head as he let out a small hum.

"Now I understand why you wanted to take on this case, Mia. But what you want be able to accomplish your goal with your current evidence." he commented.

"Well I was kind of hoping to wing it a bit." Mia admitted with a small grin.

"Winging it can only get you so far though. But I think I can get the evidence you need to help you win this case. It'll take some time but I'll try to get back as quickly as possible." Grossberg stated.

The female defense lawyer nodded her head both in understanding and gratefulness before finally watching her employer leave the room. Once he was gone Mia turned back to her nervous looking client who was still staring at the floor in shock.

Deciding to get some more information she asked "So what happened that day when you met, Damian Hawthorne?"

Phoenix immediately snapped out of her shock and shook her head a few seconds to clear her mind. Once she was settled she explained how Damian bumped into her on accident and it was love at first sight from that point. The young dark-haired couldn't help but release as happy sigh as she recalled how charming and devilish Damian was to her that day.  
Mia on the other hand groaned upon hearing this and resisting the urge to hit her client for saying such things since she did not think of Damian as she charming man he pretended to be.

"He even gave me a necklace as a sign of his love! Here I'll show you!" Phoenix said with a grin as she pulled the necklace out of her sweater.

The defense attorney remained silent as her brown eyes zoned in on the bottle that was shaped like a crystal. She even grew more suspicious when her client explained her confusion about how a few days after their first meeting Damian had started constantly asking for the necklace back. She knew if Damian wanted the necklace back it had to be something very important that would expose him for the demon hiding underneath a mask he really is.

"May I hold onto that. I thin k it might come in handy for the next part of the trial." Mia said as she held out her hand.

Phoenix was a bit hesitant as she bit her lip, unsure if she wanted to hand over a gift she treasured. But after a few seconds she sighed as she handed the necklace to Mia, deciding that if she wanted her innocence to be proven that she had to cooperate.  
At that moment the bailiff entered the waiting room, announcing how the recess was over.

"Alright, it's time to end this." Mia muttered under her breath as she entered the courtroom with her client and went to their respective seats.

Mia took in deep breaths as her nails scrapped along the wooden surface of the desk in front of her. The moment she had been preparing for had finally come. The brown-headed woman was doing the best to keep her boiling anger from surfacing as she stared at certain red-headed young man that had been called upon as a witness. Mia hated that twisted and devilish smirk was painted all over Damian's face, knowing that meant he believed he was already off the hook. She remained silent as Damian stated his name and occupation to the court with a sly grin.

"I just want to say, it's a honor to be in the court's presence. I'm sure all of you work hard to give a fair trial no doubt." the young man finished with his brown eyes glistening with charm.

"The honor is ours, Mr. Hawthorne!" Payne instantly exclaimed.

"Yes, your such a well mannered gentlemen that it makes me wish there was more people like you in the world. I'm convinced that you're here to help me the culprit behind bars and help for justice system like the great citizen you are." the judge commented with a smile.

Mia snarled before shouting at the judge to move on with the trial. But she immediately partially regretted shouting when she saw the angry glare from both the judge and prosecutor. Her teeth clenched tightly as she did her best to calm her rage, knowing that she couldn't have many outbursts due to Damian able to easily manipulate people with his charisma.

"Alright then proceed to tell us what happened on the night of the crime, Mr. Hawthorne." she said while doing her best to hide away the venom in her voice.

Damian chuckled as his eyes glanced the defense attorney for a few seconds before starting to explain on the night of the murder he had been walking back to his classroom to pick up some books he had forgotten and left there. On his way he saw Phoenix and Doug talking to each other calmly. The red-headed man continued on by claiming that without warning Doug Swallow suddenly began to wobble before dropping dead. He stated that his girlfriend Phoenix was so shocked by the sudden death that she fainted. Once he saw the scene he called the cops for help but stated how he never intended for the cops to arrest Phoenix, that he only called them to see if they could help Doug.

Phoenix sighed in relief with a smile, glad to see she was right about her boyfriend being there to help her out. But her happiness immediately faded when Prosecutor Payne pointed out in a nervous tone how Damian's testimony was a lie. Her face turned pale with when she heard even Mia agree with the prosecutor. She couldn't believe that her lawyer was going against a testimony that would help her avoid the guilty verdict. It made her wonder if the brown-headed woman was even on her side when all it seemed she was doing was making the situation worse for her by pointing out contradictions.

"Mr. Hawthorne, we both know that testimony is false because Ms. Phoenix Wright's handprints were found on the victim's jacket, meaning he did not collapse on his own and was indeed pushed by the defendant." Mia stated.

Damian narrowed his brown eyes before replying "Same old, Mia Fey. Always trying to give me a bad name."

"Wait you two know each other?!" Prosecutor Payne exclaimed in shock.

"We share a brief history." the brown-headed woman said, intending not to go into further detail.

With smirk the red-headed man revised his testimony, saying that he didn't see the moment of the push and by the time her turned his head he saw the two lying on the ground. He stated that he had no idea Phoenix rammed into Doug Swallow because he heard no noise come from the two, leaving him to believe that they were only having a peaceful discussion.

"Hmm, that would be plausible if it weren't such an obvious." Mia pointed out with a smirk, "Your girlfriend stated in her testimony that she heard a loud snap sound before she lost consciousness and I was already to establish it was the umbrella that she heard. So how is it that you weren't able to hear them if you were so close to them at the time?"

"She said what?!" Damian exclaimed in surprise with a hint of anger in his voice.

Phoenix flinched when she heard the tone of her boyfriend's voice. She couldn't understand why Damian was angry with her for telling the truth. The dark-haired young woman began rubbing her hands together nervously upon starting to witness the new side of the young man she had never seen before. It made her worried why his new personality was starting to surface in the courtroom and why he had never shown any signs of it over the time she dated him. Phoenix didn't know why but deep down she was starting to have trouble believing the man at the witness stand was the very same one she had frown to love.

The red-headed man took in a deep breath as he regained his composure while he crossed his arms firmly across his chest. With a small grin he apologized about a crucial detail he had forgotten in his testimony. The reason he didn't hear the snap was because he was wearing headphones at the time. He was never fond of the loud booming sounds of thunder so when he saw the lightning flashing through the sky he placed on some headphones to block out the sounds he considered horrendous. But without the sound Damian wasn't able to notice the fight until it was too late.

Mia closed her eyes in thought as she pressed her hand against her chin. While the witness' testimony didn't have any contradictions. she did noticed that a new crucial fact was revealed. If it was lightning that day, there was a chance that Doug Swallow actually got struck by lightning. Her eyes immediately snapped open as she pointed this out to the court. The defense lawyer was confident that the new revelation would help her get the not guilty verdict, but unfortunately she noticed Payne's grin as he waggled his index finger.

"You should have more faith in me, Ms. Fey. You didn't think that I thought about that possibility?" the prosecutor said, "Reports indicate there were no lightning strikes that day and I have a testimony from the pharmacology lab stating that they lost power around three o'clock in the morning, the same time Doug Swallow died."

"What no way!" Mia exclaimed in shock as she jerked back.

"To add onto that, the students noted how the wires were old and were needing to be replaced. They were so worn down that even the smallest bump could cause the lines to break. If you recall Ms. Wright's testimony when she slammed herself into the victim, her head smashed against the voltage pole. Meaning that impact is what caused the line to break and ultimately kill Doug Swallow." Payne stated as he adjusted his glasses.

The defense lawyer bit her thumb hard out of panic; she knew she had to come up with a counter argument if she wanted to save her client. Her brown eyes glanced down at the court files, desperately searching for clues. That was when she noticed an important detail in the crime photo that she couldn't believe she didn't notice before.

"With a victorious smirk on her face Mia brushed her bangs out of her before replying "Sorry to burst your bubble, Mr. Payne, but I can't accept that explanation.

"What?!" Payne exclaimed as he started pulling his black again.

"Explain yourself, Ms. Fey." the judge spoke up, "I thought prosecutor Payne's explanation fit perfectly with the evidence given. The moment the suspect hit her head against the pole cause the line to snap and it hit and electrocute the victim."

"That's only part of it." the defense attorney began to explain, "Yes when Ms. Wright slammed herself into Doug Swallow and hit the pole, it did indeed caused the line to snap. But remember the victim had fallen one his umbrella and if you direct your attention to it in the crime photo, it's near the far back pole while the severed line is in the forehead. Which mean someone else electrocuted Doug Swallow because Ms. Phoenix Wright had knocked him down away from the broken wire and wouldn't had the chance to grab the wire because she had knocked herself unconscious!"

The whole courtroom gasped as they muttered to each other in shock. They couldn't believe the lawyer before them that barely had any court experience was punching wholes in every testimony and theory, leading them closer and closer to the truth. It began to make them wonder if Phoenix Wright was truly guilty at all like they had originally thought.

The mutters continued to echo through out the courtroom until finally they were interrupted by Damian coughing loudly. Once he saw he had everyone's attention the young man smirked a charming smile toward the judge.

"I'm sorry your honor for speaking out of turn, but I like to pint out that Ms. Fey explanation isn't quite how I remember the event happened. If you give me a second chance, I promise I will clear the whole thing up for you." he said in a sly yet devilish tone.

The judge stared in silence before shaking his head immediately and replying "Oh no need to apologize young man. After all you're only helping us find the truth out of your overwhelming love for the justice system."

_"Oh gag me." _Mia bitterly thought to herself as she rolled her eyes, finding it annoying how clueless the judge was to Damian's personality.

The red-headed man nodded his head before explaining that when Phoenix hit the pole she wasn't quite knocked out yet. She was dazed but was able to easily spot Doug Swallow trying to get away. Using the last of her strength she managed to lunge herself at the victim, knocking his body into the exposed electrical wire before both of them collapsed on the ground and there was when Phoenix finally lost her consciousness.  
Phoenix felt like she lost the ability to breath when Damian apologized to her for not being able to protect and cover up her murder successfully. Many thoughts of confusion and fear ran through her mind. She didn't want to believe her boyfriend was against but it seemed every fact thrown at her in court room told her other wise. She bit her lip hard as she began digging her fingers into her dark hair, not quite sure what to believe in anymore.

"And exactly how much time occurred between the first and second push?" Mia asked with her brows lowered in both suspicion and anger.

"Hmm." Damian started as he tapped his index finger against his chin in thought before answering, "I would say about a minute."

At that moment Mia shouted out "Objection! Your testimony doesn't match up with the evidence! I would like you to take a look at this photo."

The young man focused his brown eyes on the photo the defense lawyer held out to him before raising a brow in confusion as he noted "That's just a picture of Doug holding Nixie's cold medicine."

"It isn't the medicine I want you to look at, it's the watch on the victim's wrist." Mia said in a stern tone, "Because of the electrocution, the watch froze at the time of Doug Swallow's death which was at three o'five. Now, Mr. Payne, would you be so kind as to remind the court at what time the lab lost power."

"Well of course, it was at two-fifty..." the prosecutor started to answer but then screamed in realization.

"The lab lost power at two-fifty-five in the morning and Doug Swallow was murdered at three o'five. That's a ten minute gap between the events. Ms. Wright wouldn't have enough strength to tackle Doug Swallow due to her consciousness slipping and Doug Swallow should had been able to easily get away. So I ask you this, Damian Hawthorne, what were you doing during that ten minute gap while your girlfriend was lying unconscious and your former friend was getting himself off the ground?" the defense lawyer demanded.

Damian clenched his teeth tightly in rage before bitterly replying "Well by the sounds of thing, Ms. fey, it sounds like you're accusing me of murder."

"As a matter of fact, I am." Mia said in a dark tone as she leaned forward on her desk, "You were the only other one at the scene of the crime and there's a ten minute gap missing in your story. With your Ms. Wright unconscious you easily had the opportunity to dash in and murder Doug Swallow!"

Upon hearing the claim the courtroom audience exploding into yells of shock and surprise, people shouting for how they wanted the truth, how no one was able to figure out who murdered the victim with all the new discoveries brought to light.  
The judge started slamming his gavel against his desk as he demanded for their to be order in his court.

Everyone kept shouting and arguing about the trial ignoring the judge's orders until a voice shouted "Hold it!"

Mia immediately turned her head and felt like screaming when she saw her very own client Phoenix Wright trying to frantically climb out of the defense bench while two bailiffs were struggled to pull her back.

"Your honor, strike everything the defense said from the record! There's no way my Demy would murder anyone!" the young woman screamed at the top of her lungs, "Demy is too sweet and kind to hurt anyone! Mia Fey has to be wrong! Demy is not a murderer!"

"Ms. Wright, back in your seat and reframe from ever making another outburst! You are at the end of your rope so I suggest you sit down and be quiet!" the judge shouted in an angry tone.

Phoenix tired to shout out a reply but instead she entered another sneezing fit caused by her cold. Because of this the two bailiffs were able to successfully get a firm grip on the dark-haired woman and force her back down in the defense bench.  
Mia couldn't help but release a groan of frustration and she rubbed her fingers against the temple of her forehead. She couldn't understand why her client continued to turn a blind eye toward the facts that were right in front of her face.

"My that girl stirred about quite the commotion." a male voice commented.

The brown-headed woman turned to the left to see none other than Grossberg standing next to her.

"I managed to track down the police files for the case in the newspaper article. Luckily I managed to get back here just in time." he said as he held out an orange colored file.

Mia accepted the file before quickly reading through notes that detailed how Diego Armando was murdered from poisoning and he had been investigating Damian Hawthorne concerning another case he had been involved. She remember how Detective Gumshoe wasn't able to fine any poison on the premise except for the one that was found in Diego's coffee cup and how the suspect didn't have any kind of bottle on his person. She knew it couldn't had been a coincident that Damian had happened to decide that very day to make Phoenix Wright his girlfriend.

"Ms. Fey, this is quite the accusation you have made. You know there are huge penalties for accusing an innocent witness." the judge stated.

"I'm quite aware your honor. That's why I would like Mr. Hawthorne to testify about the day he met Phoenix Wright." Mia replied.

"Objection! What will that prove?" Payne shouted in slight panic.

"It will prove exactly why Damian Hawthorne had the need to frame his girlfriend." Mia answered in confident tone.

Damian shook his head with a small laugh as he agreed to testify; he figured that sooner or later Mia would bring up that fateful day in the courtroom sooner or later.  
He told the court about how he met Phoenix in the court library and it was love at first sight and ever since then he had mean dating her so there was no possible reason for him to frame her.

"And may I ask what your were doing in the library that day?" the brown headed woman asked.

"I was studying the court of law for a writing report." the young man replied.

Mia grinned as she immediately got out the police file.

"Sorry, Mr. Hawthorne, that excuse won't work. According to this report you were arrested for suspect of murder on August twenty-seventh. Diego Armando died from poison ingestion and you were with him at the time for an interview concerning another case. You were the only one that could have slipped the poison in his cup at the time." she replied.

Without warning Damian began laughing loudly, causing some people to jump back in surprise.

"Oh that's rich, Ms. Fey, accusing me of poisoning a lawyer. Besides I wouldn't be able to get my hands ahold of such a poison." he continued to laugh.

The defense lawyer remained silent in thought for a few seconds before finally saying "Yes you could, from the victim Doug Swallow. He was a pharmacology student."

Upon hearing that Damian immediately ceased his laughing. His eyes were wide in fear and his hands were nervously clawing at the defense bench. He couldn't believe the lawyer who couldn't even find evidence to put him on trial for Diego's death was finally managing to catch up to him. The thought of being exposed terrified him deeply that it caused him to feel dread at the possibility Mia Fey succeeded at placing him behind bars for good.

In an attempt to turn things around for him once more, Damian gathered his nerves before pointing out "But upon my arrest the police officers found no bottle on person and there was no evidence anywhere else in the courtroom. So obviously it couldn't have been me."

The moment Damian uttered the word bottle, everything had finally clicked in Mia's mind. After many months she finally now knew the reason why he told her that she would never find any evidence against him. Her brown eyes burned with brand new determination and victory; she finally had him cornered.

"That's why you gave it to someone who wouldn't be searched. You knew at all costs the police couldn't find this in your possession." Mia proclaimed as she held out the bottle necklace, prompting both Phoenix and Damian to gasp in horror, "You gave this necklace to Ms. Phoenix Wright disguised as a gift of love when in truth you were using her to hide evidence! And after you were released from police custody you only proceeded to date my client to get your evidence of your crime!"

Sweat dripped down the red-headed man's forward until he let out a yell of rage as he smashed his hands against the witness bench.  
But before Mia could continue, Phoenix once again shouted out an objection. Tears streamed down her face as she begged and pleaded for her lawyer to tell the court that her boyfriend didn't murder anyone and that he wasn't using her as a means to an end.  
The brown-headed woman exhaled through her nose as she slowly shook her head.

"Ms. Wright, I'm sorry but you desperately need this wake up call. Damian Hawthorne manipulated and used you, like he does to many people." she said as a part of her felt bad for the heartbroken young woman.

Phoenix was speechless as the tears continued to flow from her eyes. She finally had come to face the facts, Damian never did love or cared for her. But despite knowing this she didn't feel like the six months she spent with him were a lie, for some reason she still felt that love was genuine. She used the sleeve of her pink sweater to wipe away her tears before she end up entering another sneezing fit.

"Oh for goodness sake, Prosecutor Payne, I know it's evidence but can you please give Ms. Wright her cold medicine so she may stop her sneezing." the judge said with a groan.

"Of course, your honor." Payne replied before grabbing the pill bottle and handing it to the dark-haired woman.

Damian snarled as he decided just drop his entire charming façade, his brown eyes burned with anger as he glared at eh defense lawyer he grew to hate with a passion.

"You foolish stupid woman, that's what you are Mia Fey." he said with venom dripping off his voice, shocking everyone in the courtroom except for Mia with his change of personality.

"Mr. Hawthorne, what happened to you?" the judge asked out of confusion.

"Heh, I just thought it was time to drop the sweet act. Might as well show my true colors since this hag over here is going to paint me as the villain. But despite all she has said, she still has no proof for a motive to kill Doug Swallow, meaning I can't be prosecuted. And before you point of that crystal bottle, even if it had poison, it would have grown potent by this time, meaning you will find no traces of it in there." Damian replied with a sneer.

Mia clenched his fists a bit when she knew the red-headed man was right; while she had connected him to the previous crime, she still wasn't able to connect him to the death of Doug Swallow. She searched her mind for possibilities, trying to find a reason. The only one she was able to come up with was that Damian felt the need to silence him. She knew Phoenix mentioned about how Doug told her about how he knew Damian had stolen the from the pharmacology lab but he had only given her this knowledge.

_"If Damian felt the need to kill Doug Swallow to keep him quiet. That meant he felt the victim exposed something." _Mia thought to herself as Phoenix dumped a cold pill into her hand.

At that moment the defense lawyer remembered the pill bottle that was found at the scene of the crime. The same one Phoenix had claimed went missing around lunch when she was eating with her boyfriend.

"You killed him because he was warning the person you had really set out to kill. You stole the pill bottle and poi..." Mia began to shout but was interrupted by a loud thug.

She turned to see much to her horror Phoenix lying on the floor while she was violently coughing up blood.

"What happened to defendant?!" the judge exclaimed.

"Damian had that bottle poisoned! He had set out to kill Phoenix for not giving back the bottle!" the defense lawyer shouted.

Wasting not time she quickly dashed over to the defendant's bench and held up Phoenix by her back before pleading for someone to get help.

"Hmph, why couldn't you just die like a good girl 'Nixie'." Damian said in a hateful tone as the bailiffs began to escort him away.

"Well I suppose that settles it. I pronounce Phoenix Wright Not Guilty, now someone quickly rush that girl for some medical help!" the judge proclaimed.

"I lost... NOOOOOOOOO!" Payne shouted in a horrified tone as he pulled his black hair.

But because the prosecutor was pulling on his hair so tightly, he ended up tearing out his pompadour, leaving a giant bald spot on the top of his head. He light out a yelp upon seeing the two large clumps of hair he now held in his hands before sobbing about how his beautiful hair was gone.  
Mia scooped up Phoenix into her arms as best as she could before quickly making her way toward the courtroom exit.

"Mia, where are you going?" Grossberg shouted.

"I'm going to take her to the hospital, she won't make it if we wait for an ambulance! I refuse to let her die like Tammy!" Mia shouted back.

Phoenix groaned as she watched the defense lawyer carry her to her car. Her vision was starting to fade and her body was starting to lose all feeling. Her indigo eyes glanced up at the brown-headed woman to see her panicked and worried expression as she continued to carry her. She struggled to keeps her eyes open as her lawyer urged her not to close her eyes. But despite her best efforts her eyes continued to droop close. As Mia loaded her into the car, the young woman's thoughts traveled back to her former boyfriend and how much her heart ached when he told her that she should have died like a good girl.

_"Damian, that couldn't have been you in that courtroom." _was her last thoguths before she slipped into unconsciousness.


	5. Chapter 5 - Waking Up

Chapter 5

Phoenix slowly blinked her eyes opened to be greeted with blinding lights shining above her and the sound of beeping next to her. She groaned as she turned her head on its side to discover she was lying in a hospital bed. Her mouth felt try as she slowly blinked her eyes, trying to recall what had happened to her to put her in such a state. The dark-haired woman kept looking around the hospital room until she heard a grunt. Her eyes glanced over to the side to see a vaguely familiar women with brown hair sleeping in the chair next to her. Phoenix raised a brow in confusion; she felt like she should know who the women was but she couldn't recall due to her memories being a blur.

Without a word she tried to slowly sit up but upon doing so she immediately grew nauseated. The young woman gagged as she searched the hospital room for a trash can nearby her bed. But the sounds of her gagging managed to wake up the sleeping brown-headed woman.  
When the women saw Phoenix was awake she immediately shot up from her chair with the look of surprise and a bit of happiness on her face.

"Hey careful, your body might be a little sick from the fact that your stomach had to be pumped to get the poison out." she said before grabbing a plastic bowl and holding it in front of the young women.

Phoenix's eyes widened in shock upon hearing this before she ended up vomiting in the bowl. Fortunately it only lasted a few seconds and left her coughing due to her throat growing sore and irritated from the acid. She couldn't believe that she actually ended up getting poisoned but she couldn't remember how. Her indigo eyes glanced up at the brown-headed women next to her to see her giving a friendly yet worried smile as she rubbed her back with her free hand.

Finally in a hoarse voice Phoenix asked "Exactly who are you again?"

The brown-headed women unleashed a surprised gasp as she put away the plastic bowl before exclaiming "I understand you're recovering from almost dying to a deadly poison but how could you not remember your own lawyer Mia Fey?!"

Phoenix blinked her eyes silently for a few moments till finally it hit her like lightning. At that moment all of her memories instantly came rushing back into her mind; she remembered Doug Swallow's death and her getting arrested, she remembered the revelation about how her now ex-boyfriend Damian was using her to hide evidence for another murder he committed, and finally she remembered how she was lying on the floor coughing up blood with the man who tried to have her killed glaring at her in disgust. Depression washed over the young women as she lowered her head, both heartbroken and betrayed by the one person she thought that cared for her. The past memories she shared with her ex-boyfriend now seem like an unrealistic dream to her, one that she would never experience again.

Mia grew worried at the young woman's silence. At first she thought Phoenix didn't remember the events until the dark-haired woman quietly thanked her for saving her life and opening her eyes to what kind of person Damian truly was. Figuring the young woman had gone through a lot, Mia gently told her to try to get some more rest due to how much energy her body lost from the poisoning. Much to her relief, Phoenix followed her orders and went back to sleep. But just then the brown-headed woman heard the sound of the door open behind her. She turned around, expecting the doctor, but she immediately let out a surprised yelp at the sight she was greeted before her.

There standing in the hospital room's entrance was a boy at the age of fourteen with black hair tied into a top with two large bangs hanging in front of his forehead and brown eyes, wearing a short pink kimono with a long purple jacket, a purple sash tied around his waist and white pants, large brown leather bracelets around both of his wrists, brown sandals, and finally a collar made out of white flat square tiles that encircled his neck with the same nine charm that Mia had hanging off of her necklace as well.

The boy plastered a huge grin on his face before greeting "Hiya sis!"

"Mikey, what are you doing here?!" Mia exclaimed as she grabbed her little brother's coat sleeve and dragged him in the room.

"Well, I heard on the radio how you conquered your first trial and wanted to congratulate you like any good brother. I also wanted to kind of sneak off from Aunt Morgan, sometimes she can get pretty bossy about my choirs." Mikey admitted as he rubbed the back of his neck.

The brown-headed woman shook her head with a sigh before ruffling her brother's hair. While she found him a little annoying, she did feel bad for her sibling due to the fact he's the only boy in the village she use to live at. Mia always did her best to try to cheer Mikey up when she could tell how much he yearned for playmates the same gender as him due to being stuck around women for his entire life.

Then without warning the young boy asked "Hey who's the one conked out on the bed?", prompting his older sister to awaken from her thoughts.

"That's Phoenix Wright, the client I managed to prove as innocent in today's trial. She still recovering from the dirt bag who tried to poison her." Mia explained.

Mikey open his mouth slightly in amazement before focusing his brown eyes an the unconscious women.

"You know, she's kind of cute." the dark-haired boy stated with a goofy grin.

The defense attorney lowered her brows upon hearing this before she pointed out how Phoenix was seven years old than him.  
Mikey blinked in surprise at this response; he didn't know why his sister got annoyed at his comment. During his time with his aunt Morgan, she always had him comment about how her infant daughter named Pearl is cute and that he shouldn't say otherwise. So this lead him believe that whenever he meets a woman he's suppose to comment that they're cute before he says anything else. He was fixing to point this out to his sister until he saw the strict glare she kept giving him. With a nervous glup the young boy decided to say no more about the situation in order to stay on his sister's good side.

In order to change the subject Mia asked "So, what kind of choirs did Aunt Morgan make you do this time?"

Upon hearing this Mikey proceeded to let out a frustrated groan before explaining "It was awful, Mia! She told me that I was old enough to clean off the sword display and as I was cleaning them about three swords almost fell on me, almost killing me. I still can't figure out why Aunt Morgan keeps giving me choirs that somehow almost end up killing me. It's almost as if she wants me to get killed!"

Mia raised her brow in suspicion upon hearing this. She remembered in the past she would receive calls from her old village that informed her of the constant accidents her little brother always got himself wrapped up in and they always seemed to stem from doing choirs for their aunt. Unfortunately she didn't get to think about it long because her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of her brother's stomach growling.  
Mikey flashed a bashful grin toward his sister as he rubbed his hand against the back of his neck.

"So, Mia, do you think we can go grab a burger to eat?" he asked.

"Last time you said you wanted to eat ramen the next time you were in town." Mia stated with a smirk and her hand placed on her hip.

"Hey a guy can change taste, then I wanted ramen and now I want burgers. Is it a crime to change minds later down the road?" the dark-haired boy replied with his arms crossed.

The brown-headed woman laughed before ruffling her little brother's hair; she couldn't help but find it hilarious how ravenous her brother's appetite was sometimes. Without another word the two siblings left the hospital room planning to grab a bite to eat. But as they left, the two had failed to see a young man standing in the hallways with a black hoodie on that hid away his face. He looked back and forth to make sure no one saw him before entering the hospital room. When he saw the unconscious woman laying on the bed he nearly stopped breathing as he felt guilt over whelm him. Without a word he left a single rose on the table next to her bed with the note attached to it that read "Sorry." Once he did this he gently brushed Phoenix's bangs off her forehead and smiled while his eyes were brimming with tears before leaving the room, letting no one be aware of his presence.

A few days had passed and Phoenix was slowly recovering from the poison. She groaned as she listened to her best friend pace around the room, complaining about her latest failed romance.

"I'm telling you, Phoenix, the nerve of that cop threatening to arrest me. All I did is ask if he wanted to have dinner with me multiple times. I thought cops always fell for the cute girls." Lexie grumbled in an annoyance.

"Maybe it's because you're not one of those girls." the dark-haired woman commented while rubbing her throbbing head.

Lexie's formed her mouth in an insulted pout before remarking with hands on her hips "Just so you know, Nix, my milkshakes bring all the boys to the backyard."

Phoenix grumbled and slapped both of her hands against her face despite it causing the pain in her head to increase at her best friend's remark. Not only did she knew her friend was lying since it was the ginger-haired women herself that usually chased after men, not the other way around but also because she couldn't believe that her friend chose to reference a silly song at the same time. The dark-haired woman took in a deep breath before lowering her hands and allowed her indigo eyes to glance over at the single rose that was now sitting in a glass of water. Silently she grasped the rose by its stem and held it close to her chest while gently running her thumb along the stem, being mindful of the small thorns.

When Lexie saw the rose she gasped loudly before exclaiming "Is that another romantic gift?!"

Phoenix narrowed her eyes and glared at the ginger-haired woman before replying with some bitterness in her voice "No, it seemed to be an apology gift from someone. A few days ago when I woke up I had found it on my table with a note that simple read 'Sorry.'"

The dark-haired woman didn't mean to seem so angry at her friend but after her ex-boyfriend Damian tried to have her killed just so he could cover his tracks for a crime he had committed, she wanted almost nothing to do with romance for a while due to pain and betrayal that seemed to continue to float around inside of her heart.

"Wait, an apology gift? Was it from Damian? Maybe he really did love you and felt guilty about trying to kill you." Lexie suggested as she pulled up a chair next to the hospital bed and straddled the back of it while her arms and chin were propped up on the top of the back of the chair.

Phoenix rolled her eyes with a snort before answering "No, I know it isn't him for two reasons. One, Damian made it absolutely clear that he hated my guts and wanted me dead. Second, he wouldn't be able to get near the hospital since he's currently sitting in jail with the death penalty slapped on his head for both murder and attempted murder."

The ginger-haired woman glanced up at the ceiling in thought before nodded her head in agreement, but that left her to ask who gave the gift.  
Phoenix opened her mouth to reply but then slowly closed it in silence due to the fact she had no idea who gave her the gift. She couldn't think of anyone that had anything to apologize to her for, leaving her to wonder why someone she seemingly didn't know gave her an apology gift. She glanced down at the rose before allowing a small smile form across her face.

"Well whoever it is must be a very nice and caring person to show such concern." she finally said.

"And I bet he's romantic too." Lexie sighed dreamily.

Phoenix snarled in anger when her friend had brought up the word romance once again, making her recall that it was Lexie whop had urged her to go out with Damian. Upon realizing this, the dark-haired woman yelled in rage before grabbing and shaking her best friend by her shirt collar.

"Why do you always drag me into these things to me, Lexie?!" she shouted in anger.

But while she did this, many doctors and nurses had gathered outside of the hospital room, having came when they heard Phoenix's yelling. They stared in shock before all glancing at each other, unsure whether they should step in and help Lexie get free of the angry woman's grip or just stand back and allow the patient to get all the pent up stress off of her chest.

Meanwhile at the police station, Edgesworth was looking over different evidence for one of his upcoming cases. He was wanting to examine every single detail to make sure he left no loose ends untied and insure his guilty verdict. As he was doing this, he was unaware of Detective Gumshoe running toward him with piles of papers in his arms.

"I got all the witness reports liked you asked, Mr. Edgesworth!" he said with a huge grin as he dropped all the papers on the desk in front of the prosecutor.

Edgesworth clenched his teeth and glared up at the detective before him, frustrated that the files he had been looking at were now buried underneath a stack of papers. With a frustrated sigh, the grayish-brown-headed man began organizing through the papers, trying to reoriented himself. He kept sorting through the papers until he stumbled upon a newspaper article. Figuring that Gumshoe had brought it on accident, he was fixing to toss it away until he spotted the top of the article read "Court Case Gone Awry, Attorney Client rushed to hospital."

Curiosity getting the best of him, the prosecutor decided to read about the event. At first nothing seemed out of the ordinary but his eyes widened when he saw two names from his past and they were Damian Hawthorne and Phoenix Wright. The prosecutor was unsure what to think as his eyes continued reading down the column of words, discovering how Damian had caused the court to end in panic when it was discovered that he had poisoned Phoenix's medicine and how she would had died if it weren't for the actions of Mia Fey.

Edgesworth's fists began to tighten around the sides of the newspaper as he recalled his first case over two years ago, the one that had ended with the suicide of Tammy. He closed his eyes, remembering the scene of the life leaving her eyes as her body began slumping over the defendant's bench. But much to his horror the mental image in his mind morphed into Phoenix with barely any life in her indigo eyes with blood constantly pouring out from her mouth as she weakly reached out an arm toward him, whispering his name in a raspy voice.

Within a second Edgesworth gasped as his eyes immediately snapped upon. His head whipped around frantically when he temporarily forgot where he currently was. He didn't awaken from his thoughts until he heard Gumshoe ask him if he was alright. The prosecutor blinked his brown eyes for a moment before unleashing a loud exhale as one of his hands ran through his hair while the other unconsciously reached into his pocket and grabbed ahold of Phoenix's charm bracelet that he carried in his pocket for a reason not even he could figure out.

"I'm fine detective. Just remembered something unpleasant." Edgesworth muttered in a calm tone.

"Do..." Gumshoe started with a frown, taking a pause of hesitancy before continuing, "Do you want to talk about it?"

But as soon as the words left the detective's mouth, he was startled by Edgesworth immediately yelling the word "No!" at him in rage. He silently blinked his eyes, watching the prosecutor freeze for a moment before he straightened out his red coat and coughed into his hand.

"I mean no, detective." Edgesworth replied in a calmer tone, "I appreciate your concern but I do not require a discussion to help conquer my past demons. I would like my past to stay in the past. In fact I would like to get back to my case. No sense on focusing on a case that has already been wrapped up."

Detective Gumshoe nodded his head both in agreement and understanding before helping the prosecutor organize through the witness reports before them. But despite understanding, the detective couldn't help but feel that there was more to Edgesworth's small panic attack. Because he not only saw fear in the young man's eyes but he saw anger and regret as well.


	6. Chapter 6 - Novels

Chapter 6

It had been a few weeks since the murder of Doug Swallow, Phoenix had completely recovered from her near death experience from the poison Damian had given her. The dark headed woman took in a deep sigh, no longer dressed in her pink sweater that her ex-boyfriend made for her due to the painful memories it held, and now was dressed in black slacks, white heels, a white blouse, and a blue vest. She bit her lip nervously as she found herself standing outside of Mia Fey's Attorney Office. Ever since the Attorney managed to successfully defend her in court, Phoenix's eyes were reopened to the reason why she wanted to become a lawyer in the first place and wanted to learn more.

Gathering up her nerves, she raised her hand and gently knocked against the door. It wasn't long until the door swung open to reveal a surprised Mia who was holding a cup of ramen noodles in her other hand and had taken off her jacket, revealing her white blouse.

"Um, hello, Ms. Fey, is alright if I come in?" Phoenix asked with a nervous grin.

Mia stared at the young woman before her in surprise for a few moments before finally stepping aside and allowing her inside.  
Phoenix nodded her head in gratefulness before sitting down in one of the chairs in front of the attorney's desk. Once sat down, her indigo eyes glanced around the office, surprised at the simple surroundings when she had expected a more professional look with certificates and paintings but instead was greeted with newspaper clippings, a television, and a single planet next to a desk.

"So exactly what brings you here, Ms. Wright?" Mia asked as she sat down at her desk, awakening the young woman from her thoughts.

"Why I'm here..." Phoenix started, taking a pause to regain her train of thought before continuing, "Oh that's right! Um, Ms. Fey, after you defended me in court, it reminded me of a goal I was inspired to strive to at a young age. So I was wondering if you could help me strive for that goal, I would like you to train me to become a Defense Attorney."

The Defense Attorney was stunned by this as she listened to the young woman explain how she had dumped all her art classes and was going for going for all the classes in law and order so she could earn her badge. She couldn't believe by refusing to give up on her that she ended up inspiring her to do so as well. It was then that Mia knew that Phoenix was no longer the silly, lovestruck, and confused college student that was sitting frightened in the Detention Center, she was a confident young woman that was willing to fight.

The brown-headed woman couldn't help but smile a bit before getting out a piece of paper and started writing on it.

"Well you can't see any action until you get your badge, but in the mean time I can nudge you in the right direction until you're ready. I want you to read up on these books that I have written down for you." she replied as she slid the paper forward.

Phoenix picked up the paper and was surprised that Mia had written down a list of mystery novels. When she asked the reason why she would needed to read novels, the defense attorney explained to her how the novels would help her spot contradictions when it comes to testimonies and she wanted her to hone that skill by taking notes on how the characters in the mystery novel figure out who the culprit is and see if she could predict the culprit before the characters of the novel expose them.

"Huh, I never thought of that. The most I learned from was Edgeworth." Phoenix commented as she folded the list into her pocket.

Mia was eating her ramen noodles when she heard this, prompting her to gasp and accidentally inhale the noodles, causing her to enter a coughing fit. She banged her fist on her chest a few times until finally she was able to breathe once more.

"You know Miles Edgeworth?!" she exclaimed in shock.

Phoenix formed a small smile on her face before answering "We went to school together. We were close friends, but then his father was killed and he moved away to Germany. I hadn't been in contact with him ever since. But despite him being as the newspapers quote 'a ruthless and vicious prosecutor' he once wanted to be a Defense Attorney like his father and even defended me when I was wrongfully accused."

"Wrongfully accused, so you were familiar with the situation Damian put you in?" Mia asked.

The dark-haired woman stared in shock at this sentence before glancing toward the floor and muttering "Well at least no one was trying to kill me as a child."

Instantly feeling bad for hers words, Mia immediately apologized and changed the subject by asking her how her friend Lexie was doing.  
Phoenix laughed as she rubbed the back of her neck, recalling how she almost strangled her best friend for unintentionally getting her involved with Damian incident.

"Eh it's hard to tell, Lexie is like a magnet to trouble so she has to move around a lot. She has multiple restraining orders on the campus so I'm not really sure what trouble she might be getting into now." she replied.

Meanwhile Edgeworth sighed as he got out of his car. He was heading up to his office to put away his files for his course case win. But before he could even take a single step, a familiar squeal of joy reached his ears. He immediately turned on his heel and froze in fear when he saw none other than Lexie dressed in a security uniform with a huge grin on her face.

"Edgey, it's actually you!" she cried out as she threw her arms around the prosecutor, much to his annoyance while she continued, "Oh it's been so long since I seen you. Both me and Nix had been dying to see you ever since you moved back from Germany."

"The feeling is mutual." he grumbled as he managed to pry himself out of the young woman's death grip.

Lexie frowned at the treatment she received from her childhood friend; she had expected him to be pleasantly surprised by the fact they manage to finally meet face to face again. She had also expected the prosecutor would give her a reason as to why he hadn't responded to any of Phoenix's attempts to contact him.

"Now as much as I know I going to regret asking this, what exactly are you doing here?" Edgeworth sighed as he dusted off his suit.

The frown on the ginger-headed woman's face was instantly replaced with a huge grin before she exclaimed "Can't you tell by the uniform? I'm in charge of Parking Lot Security. Got to keep an eye on those cameras to watch out for suspicious activity. Personally though I can care less about that, I mainly applied for the job to meet the cute guys, I do so absolutely love a man in uniform."

The grayish-brown-headed man groaned in frustration as he rubbed his hand against his forehead. Not only was he annoyed by Lexie's obsession for men, he was also annoyed that just from her appearance alone reminded him of the past he wanted to remain lost and buried deep within his mind. He knew with Lexie's position as a security guard would mean that he would have to see her before entering his office everyday and constantly be reminded of the day he lost his father.

"Oh joy." he muttered out loud unintentionally.

"Um did you say something, Edgey?" Lexie asked as she tilted her head in confusion.

Realzing he had spoken his sarcastic thought out loud, Edgeworth immediately changed the subject by asking "Shouldn't you be getting back to your post. You don't want to get fired do you."

"Gah, you're right! If I don't get back to my post, I won't be able to spend time with the boys. Hopefully I can manage to hook one on a dinner date. Well wish me luck, Edgey." the young woman replied with a wink before dashing off.

Once his childhood friend was gone, Edgeworth finally released a sigh of relief before stepping into an elevator that led up to his office. While he was still annoyed that he had to deal with Lexie and hear her address him by a nickname he despised, he was glad that Phoenix didn't show up with her since he considered th scenario would had been much worse if the dark-haired woman appeared.

Meanwhile, outside of the city was a village known as Kurian Village. There Mikey sighed out of boredom as he glanced over Kurian Channeling Techniques. The young boy found it strange that when it came to his family line, he was the rare case of a male being born with the power to channel spirits, something that normally only the woman of his village could do. But because of his rare case, Mikey found himself very lonely there wasn't any other boys his age to talk to. He continued studying the scroll until he felt something tugging on his purple coat. The young boy raised a brow in confusion and glanced down to see a small toddler with brown hair tied up into two loops, wearing a pink kimono, purple coat, a red ribbon tied around her waist, and a pearl necklace with a blue charm shaped like a nine.

Mikey laughed when he saw the toddler before he got down on his hand and knees where he was level with here. He couldn't help but crack a huge grin when the young girl stared innocently at him with her bright brown eyes.

"So, Pearly, what brings my favorite cousin to my room?" he finally spoke up.

"Mystic Mikey play." the girl pleaded as she tugged on her cousin's jacket once more.

"Sure thing." Mikey replied as he scooped up his cousin into his arms.

But before he could even take a step, a woman with her black hair tied into a large bun and wearing a black kimono with a tan ribbon tied around her waist entered the room. Her eyes were narrowed in anger as she immediately snatched the toddler out of Mikey's arms. When the girl began sobbing about taking away from her cousin, the black-headed woman formed a soothing smile as she gently patted her back.

"Oh don't cry my little Pearl. Mystic... Mikey needs to continue his studies. After all I made it very clear that he is to be studying and later one finish his chores." the woman said, scrunching her nose slightly when she took a pause.

"But, Aunt Morgan, I'm so bored. I've done nothing but study and do chores for days. I just would like to have fun for once. I mean who's to say Mia won't change her mind and come back to become the Master of Spirit Channelers." Mikey groaned in disappointment.

Morgan narrowed her eyes before taking her free hand and jabbing her finger against the teens chest as she said "Your sister has made it clear she has no interest in becoming Master and since your mother hasn't been seen for years, that leaves you to take up the role. You need to understand how much responsibility you must fulfill for your family and this family, and to add onto that fact, you'll end up as the first male Master since you ended up being the rare case of a man exhibiting the ability to channel spirits."

The teenage boy released a depressed sigh as he watched his aunt leave the room with Pearl still sobbing in his arms. He couldn't understand why his aunt seemed against the idea of letting him be happy. Unsure what else to do, he sat down at his table with his scrolls once more. But before he could read his scrolls, his brown eyes glanced at the picture which showed him as a young child next to his sister who was dressed with a pink kimono and purple coat along side their mother who wore a long purple robe lined with jewel and gold trimming smiling as she hugged her children next to her.

Mikey couldn't prevent the frown that formed on his face as he gently grasped the picture frame and held it close to his chest. He deeply missed his mother ever since she went missing out of shame for a mistake she made, leaving him with his older sister.

"Please never leave me, Mia. Without you, I have no one." he whispered to himself as he hugged the picture against his chest.

Later that day, back with Phoenix, the young woman yawned as she flipped to the next page of the mystery novel she was currently reading. Deciding to follow Mia's advice, she had dashed to the bookstore and bought all the novels on the list and took them back to her dorm room. Her indigo eyes carefully examined each of the words while she wrote down different facts and characters on her notepad, trying to gather all the information she could to figure out the culprit. Phoenix took a moment to glance away from the novel to review her notes before a small smirk formed on her face.

"Well based on the facts, the culprit has to Scott, I mean he had all the information recorded on the phone calls and it seemed strange how he didn't elaborate about the storage room in his phone calls." she concluded.

She flipped the page and continued reading, but when the novel revealed who the murder culprit was her smirk instantly vanished.

"Oh come on, it was the security guard? Ugh I should have known, of course he could easily hide the bodies." she grumbled as she slapped her one hand against her forehead and tossed her notepad over her head, "Well at least I figured out the ghost aspect. I mean it's easy to figure out when I read the line..."

"It's me!" a voice yelled out.

When Phoenix heard this, she screamed before tumbling out of her chair and crashed to the floor. She groaned from the pain coursing through her body before she slowly reopened her eyes and saw none other than Lexie standing over her while still wearing her Parking Lot Security uniform.

"Uh, Phoenix why are you in the floor? I was just letting you know that I entered your room since I still have your spare keys." the ginger-headed woman stated while jingling the keys next to her.

"You just had to be wearing a security uniform, well at least it isn't purple." Phoenix grumbled as she sat up, annoyed that her friend had once again caused her to fall into the floor out of surprise.

Lexie was confused by her friend's actions but when she asked why she was acting the way she did, Phoenix told her that it wasn't important before asking her why she had came to her dorm room, reminding her how she still had restraining order against her how the campus security would arrest he if they spotted her. She remained silently as she tapped her index finger against her chin, trying to remember exactly why she wanted to see her best friend. When she remembered she gasped happily as she jabbed her index finger in the air in realization.

"That's right, I know now! Nix, when I went to my job, I ended up bumping into none other Edgey!" she exclaimed.

"Wait, you mean Edgewoth?!" Phoenix shouted in shock.

When Lexie nodded in her in response, Phoenix's mouth hung open in disbelief, shocked that after many years of trying to get in contact with him, her best friend has succeeded with minimal effort. Wanting answers she immediately asked what the prosecutor had said to her only to unfortunately to be greeted with the answere that Edgeworth had only shared a few words with Lexie before she had to dash off for her work shift. Phoenix sighed with a frown as she rubbed her arm, it pained to know her that she had gotten closer than ever before to speak to Edgeworth but she still ended up walking away with nothing.

"Look if it cheers you up, I'll go talk to him when I head to work tomorrow." Lexie said with a smile as she rested her hand on her shoulder.

"I appreciate your help, Lexie, but I know that won't help. Edgeworth will be sure to avoid you now that he knows you work there just to avoid talking to you. Face it the only way I'll be able to talk to him is in a courtroom. There he won't be able to escape unless he would want to ruin his perfect win record." Phoenix replied.

"Do you think you'll have what it takes to be a defense attorney though? Because I imagine you would have to be very good if you're wanting to go up against, Edgey." the ginger-headed woman stated.

Phoenix clenched her fists tightly before she answered "I do know I will, Lexie. Not now but eventually with Mia's help. I just need to take the skills she shown when defending me and hone them myself. The key is spotting contradictions."

Upon hearing this, Lexie responded with a grin "That's great to hear, now I know if I get stuck in a bad situation, I'll just call you and have you be my defense lawyer."

Phoenix narrowed her eyes and glared at her best friend who continued to smile innocently, oblivious to how much the dark-headed woman didn't want to have to be stuck in court and have to get her out a problem she got herself stuck in thanks to her obsession with men. Something she hoped that would never happen.


	7. Chapter 7 - An Attorney and Assistant

Chapter 7

Mia yawned as she unlocked the door to her office. It had already been a few weeks since she agreed to take Phoenix under her wing and help her become a defense attorney. While she was happy with the progress the young woman was making, she knew the only way she could give her major pointers was her to experience a trial that didn't involve her being the main suspect. Mia shrugged her shoulders before she turned on the TV and grabbed a watering pale before watching over to the sink. The running faucet water temporarily drowned out the TV but by the time she shut it off and walked over to water her plant named Charley.

But when she did this, she froze in shock when she heard the news was on and it spoke of a recent murder at a comic con that a popular robotics engineer Ronald Bix was killed from one of his machines backfiring on him. Upon police investigation they discovered that the machine had been purposely sabotaged and the main suspect was Tabby Farmer, a young woman that was a huge robot enthusiast and she was a rival to Ronald Bix. They had discovered her convention name tag at the scene of the crime, leading police to believe she killed Ronald so she wouldn't have any competition.

Mia pursed her lips as she stared at the screen of the frightened and confused young woman being taken away by police officers. She could tell by the look of the woman's eye that she couldn't have possibly committed the crime, having grown familiar with the evil and dark glint of the eyes of the criminal after trying to get Damian arrested for so many years.

"Hmm, I think I might have found the perfect teaching opportunity." the brown-headed woman commented as she picked up her phone.

Later that day, Phoenix panicked as she ran down the street while frantically shoving many into her bag at the same time. When she had received Mia's phone call to meet her at the Police station, she grew very confused and unsure what her mentor wanted to go over with her this time. She didn't know whether they were going to look over files for previous cases to teach her how to be wary of certain prosecutors' tactics, or have her look over old evidence to learn what is important to use in a case or not. It wasn't long till she finally reached the front of the police station with Mia waiting for her with her hands firmly placed on her hips.

Phoenix took in deep breaths as she propped herself up with her hands firmly placed on her knees, immediately regretting the decision to run all the way from the University to the Police Station.

"Glad you received my message but honestly you need to work on your timing, the judge isn't very keen on attorneys that show up to the courtroom late." Mia stated in a stern tone.

"S-S-So-Sorry about that." the young woman gasped out before taking in a huge deep breath once more and straightened herself out.

Without another word the two women entered the Police Station. Phoenix bit her lip and silently rubbed her arm, trying to take her mind off of the fact that the last time she was there was when Damian had framed her for the murder of Doug Swallow. Because she was so focused on pushing away her thoughts, she was shocked when she realized that Mia had led her to the Detention Center. She was fixing to ask why until she heard the sound of knocking against glass. Her indigo eyes glanced toward of the direction of the sound to see on the other side of the glass was a blonde-headed woman with glasses. Phoenix was speechless as she examined how the woman's attire consisted of cartoon robots and in her hand she actually held a blue and red robot toy.

The trio remained in silence until the blonde-headed woman spoke up "Okay I know that you must be my defense attorney, but who the porcupine head next to you?"

Phoenix's face turned bright red upon hearing this before shouting "My hairstyle is nothing like a porcupine's!"

Mia rolled her eyes, trying to stifle her own laughter from hearing the comment. She didn't one to admit it but she id find herself remind of either a porcupine or a cockatoo whenever she saw the young woman's hairstyle. Knowing that she needed to get to the matter at hand, the brown-headed woman coughed to clear her throat before she explained how Phoenix was going to accompany her as her assistant in the trial to prove the suspect's innocence.

"So now we have that out of the way, how about you tell me exactly what happened on the day of the murder Tabby Farmer." she suggested.

_"Tabby Farmer, why does her name sound like transfo..." _Phoenix started to think but her thoughts were cut off by Mia jabbing her shoulder against her arm to silently tell her to pay attention.

Tabby mindless played around with the toy robot in her hands as she explained that she wasn't any where near Ronald Bix's booth because at the time she was focused on getting her robot cartoon show collection signed by the two voice actors for Optimal Supreme and Negazone but on her way she managed to accidentally bump into someone. By the time she had reached the voice actor table, she had discovered that she had lost her name tag at an unknown point of time.

"My guess it might had got ripped off when that guy bumped into me." she commented.

"Were you able to get a good look at the guy who bumped into you?" Mia asked.

The blonde-headed woman tapped her index finger against her chin before answering "No, I think I was still too dazed to get a good look at him."

Deciding to show proof, Tabby placed a picture of herself in a slot where Mia could pick it up.  
Phoenix remained silent as she watched her mentor pick up the photo and examine it. She narrowed her eyes as she carefully studied the picture as well. Just like Tabby claimed, Phoenix was able to easily notice in the picture of the blonde-headed woman grinning as she stood in between the two voice actors while holding her autographed robot cartoon collection, her name tag was indeed missing from her neck. But before she could examine it more, Mia placed the picture in her bag before thanking Tabby for the information and getting up out of her chair.

"Alright, Phoenix, we're going to need to move fast if we're going to prove Tabby Farmer innocent at tomorrow's trial." the defense attorney said as she left the Discipline Office with her assistant.

"So what is the next step exactly?" Phoenix asked out of curiosity.

"One thing you need to note as a Defense Attorney, the more prepared for a trial, the better chance you'll have successfully proving your client's innocence. So we'll be going to the scene of the crime to see if we can find evidence, starting with Ronald Bix's booth." Mia explained.

Without another word the two left the Detention Center but on their way out, Phoenix ended up crashing into someone, result in a file of papers to scatter on the floor. She grumbled as she rubbed her now sore head but the moment she opened her eyes to yell who had crashed into her, she found herself staring at none other than a dazed Edgeworth who was also on the floor rubbing his sore head. The young woman opened her mouth, trying to find the words to say but found herself speechless due to being overwhelmed by the emotions she was experiencing such as happiness at finally seeing her childhood friend after so many years and anger at the fact he had cut himself off from her and everyone else after his father's death even though she tried to help him.

Edgeworth shook his head, struggling to regather his bearings. But when he finally did, he lifted up his head to be greeted by the sight of the very person he never wanted to see in his entire life again. He clenched his teeth as his hand immediately dashed into his pocket and tightly grasped the charm bracelet he had given to her as a child. Taking a deep breath to regain his composure, Edgeworth silently stood up and gathered up the papers scattered on the floor. But the moment he tried to walk away, much to his anger he felt a hand cling tightly onto his wrist. He turned around to see Phoenix now standing up while glaring in angry.

"Edgeworth, you hadn't seen me in thirteen years and the first thing you do is when you finally see me is try to get away from me as quickly as possible." she stated in a stern tone.

Edgeworth snarled as he jerked his wrist out of Phoenix's grip and replied "I have nothing to say to you, Wright."

He was about to walk away until he was stopped by the young woman raising her voice, clearly showing her angry "You can't avoid me forever, Edgeworth. One day you will have no choice but give me the answers I seek. So I suggest the sooner you do it the better."

The brown-headed man turned around, allowing his brown eyes to glared at the indigo ones that glared straight back at him. He clenched his teeth as the memories surrounding his father's death surrounded him once more. He hated that every time Phoenix tried to reach out to him, he only got painful reminders of the past he wanted to bury and forget. Doing his best to ignore the memories, Edgeworth quickly turned on his heel and stormed off.  
Once the prosecutor was gone, Phoenix sighed sadly as she glanced down at her feet, saddened that once again Edgeworth rejected her help.

"Alright what was that all about?" a voice spoke up.

Phoenix yelped in surprise, almost jumping up a foot off of the ground as she spun herself to find herself facing Mia who stared at her with her arms crossed and a brow raised. The young woman smiled nervously as she grabbed her ponytail and started playing with it, realizing that her mentor had witnessed her entire encounter with Edgeworth. She opened up her mouth, trying to come up with an explanation but unfortunately much like before she found herself speechless.  
Seeing she wasn't going to get an answer, Mia rolled her eyes with sigh before grabbing the dark-headed woman by her arm and dragging her off, wanting to get down to the more important matter.

It wasn't long till the two women reached comic con. Phoenix was stunned to see the building was still crawling with officers and the middle of the mayhem was a man in a brown trench coat barking orders.

"Come on now, we need to make sure we got every bit of evidence. Ms. Tian has stated that she requires everything she needs for the trial." the man said.

Mia chuckled at the sight for a few seconds before saying "Hello, Gumshoe."

Gumshoe immediately stopped shouting orders and turned around, jumping slightly in surprise upon seeing the two women before him.

"Oh hey, Ms. Fey, I heard about how you managed to get that scum Damian behind bars finally. Sorry I wasn't able to help you the first time. If only I've known he duped some dumb gi..." he started to say but caught himself off when he saw Phoenix's forming a huge forced grin on her face with her right eye twitching slightly.

Noticing this, Mia coughed to clear the air of the awkwardness and said "Gumshoe, this is Phoenix Wright. After I successfully defended her in court, I have since taken her in for training to become a Defense Attorney. She'll be serving as my assistant on this case, I figured it would be a good learning experience for her."

Gumshoe blinked silently as her scratched his head, mulling over the words Mia told him. It only took a few seconds to realize that the Phoenix was the very same young woman from the trial that he was about to unintentionally insult by calling her dumb for letting herself get tricked into hiding the evidence that proved Damian poisoned Diego. With a nervous grin he immediately began apologizing as he patted Phoenix on the shoulder.

"Gumshoe." Mia spoke up, making the detective immediately stop his actions before she continued, "I heard you mention gathering evidence for someone named Ms. Tian. Who is she?"

Gumshoe scratched his head once more, trying to regain his train of thought.  
Phoenix couldn't help but giggle slightly at the sight; she found it hilarious seeing the how confused and slightly flustered the detective got when presented with a question. She had to admit that despite Gumshoe nearly insulting her with his earlier comment, part of her found his antics endearing.

After a few seconds, Gumshoe finally snapped his fingers and exclaimed "Right Ms. Tian! Her full name is Egress Tian and she is the prosecutor on the case. I have been assisting her in gathering evidence for the trial since she has full faith that we managed to snag the right culprit.

"Egress Tian, I heard of her. Aside from being a prosecutor she owns a horse ranch and she sees attorneys and witnesses as wild horses that need to be tamed." Mia said as she gestured out her hand, "If she's on the case it means it's going to be difficult to prove Ms. Farmer's innocence."

Deciding to move onto business, the defense attorney asked if she could have a look at the crime scene. Much to her relief, Gumshoe granted her access but insured her that he and his men had gathered up all the evidence. Mia only simply rolled her eyes upon hearing this before nodding her head in understanding and without another word she lead Phoenix to the crime scene. Once there the two women were greeted with the sight of a table with many robotics and on a fold up wall were many framed awards.

"Wow, people weren't kidding about Ronald Bix." Phoenix commented as she picked up a tiny robot with six legs.

As she examined it, she accidental flipped a switch causing the tiny robot to whir to life. The dark-headed woman yelped as the robot immediately scampered to the top of her head and got tangled up in her spiked bangs. She started screaming as she ran around in circles, trying desperately to get the robot off her but only resulting in it pulling painfully on her hair.  
Mia sighed as she calmly walked over and grabbed her assistant by her shoulder and flipped the switch on the robot, prompting in it shutting off and releasing Phoenix's hair.

"Try not to mess with stuff and only search for clues." the defense attorney said as she set the robot back on the table.

Phoenix smiled nervously before silently walking away. Her eyes carefully examined every detail of the crime scene, seeing the outline marked on the floor where the suspect died along with partially dried blood. She directed her attention to the robot that backfired to see it had four wheels and a giant arm. Phoenix carefully kneeled down next to the robot to get a careful look, not wanting to get too close in order to avoid a scenario like the one she experienced with the tiny robot. But upon examining it, the young woman managed to spot a small cube hooked up to the wiring with a red light on it.

Wanting to get a better look, Phoenix bit her lip as she carefully reached in, pushing away many wires until finally she felt her fingers graze the small block box. She took in a deep breath before she quickly grabbed the box and jerked it out, accidentally snapping a few wires in the process. She held to the box close to her chest; her body stiffening out of fear that she accidentally made the robot malfunction. When the robot didn't move, Phoenix sighed in relief, unfortunately at that moment, sparks whirred from the robot and the arm swung around, smashing against the young woman's head and knocking her to the ground.

Mia quickly turned on her heel when she heard the smash and promptly slapped her hand against her forehead when she saw the young woman lying dazed on the floor.

"What did I tell you about not messing with stuff?" the defense attorney scolded with her hands firmly placed on her hips.

Phoenix only simply groaned as she lifted up her hand, revealing the black box to her mentor.  
Mia raised her brows in interest before she quickly took the box out of her assistant's hand, just in time for it to collapse on the ground with another groan. Ignoring the young woman for the moment, Mia carefully examined the box by twisting and turning it and much to her surprise on the bottom of the box she found the letter F.

"F as in Farmer. This evidence might not be good for our client but it's evidence none the less and unfortunately this and Ms. Farmer's picture is all the evidence we have. Gumshoe wasn't kidding when he said Tian had him clear out the crime scene." Mia stated with a sigh as she placed the black box in her bag.

Phoenix rubbed her forehead which had a red mark from where she had been hit before she asked "Then how are we going to prove Ms. Farmer's evidence tomorrow in court?"

Mia chuckled slightly as she turned toward her assistant and answered "Same way I successfully proved your innocence. Spot the contradiction. Remember this for when you become a defense attorney, the more contradictions you reveal, the more likely crucial evidence will reveal itself."

Phoenix nodded her head in understanding before accepting the hand outstretched to her and standing back up.


	8. Chapter 8 - Fighting the Horse Tamer

Chapter 8

Phoenix took in deep breaths as her indigo eyes glanced around at Defendant Longue, not very surprised that for the second time in her life she found herself waiting in the very same room she was stuck in a few months ago but she was relieved that unlike last time she wasn't the defendant. She remained silent as she watched Mia talk to the defendant Tabby Former as the blonde headed woman kept mindlessly messing with the toy robot in her hands. Phoenix rolled her eyes at the sight, not understanding the nature of franchise fans, considering the whole idea silly since she never found herself interested in anything that was aired on TV those days. She was stirred from her thoughts when the bailiff entered the room, announcing that the trial was fixing to start.

Without a word she followed her mentor to the defendant's bench, feeling slightly awkward to now be standing along side Mia when last time she was stuck in the defendant chair while Grossberg stood next to the brown-headed woman. Phoenix directed her attention to the prosecutor's bench just in time to see a brown-headed woman with her curled hair pulled into and elegant ponytail and bun with her dark brown eyes narrowed as she walked behind her bench. The woman's peach colored lips formed into the sneer of disgust as her white gloves dusted off her black pants and her jacket designed like a yellow queen Victorian dress before finally settling down.

"I'm guessing that's Egress Tian." Pheonix whispered into Mia's ear.

The defense attorney nodded before she replied back "I wasn't exaggerating when I said she saw defense attorneys and witnesses as wild horses that need to be tamed, why do you think she looks so disgusted."

The young woman opened her mouth to reply but found herself silenced when the sound of the judge's gavel echoed throughout the courtroom.

"Court is now in session. Is the prosecution ready?" the judge asked.

Tian smiled smugly as she ran her hand under her ponytail before allowing it to drop in an elegant fashion. She remained silent as she placed a case on her desk, snapping open the clasps and revealing a horse whip inside. She picked up the whip in an elegant fashion as she placed the case back on floor.

She chuckled as she casually waved the whip in the air as she replied "Of course monsieur honor."

"And is the defense ready?" the judge asked as he turned toward Phoenix and Mia.

"Yes your honor." Mia replied.

The judge was about to turn away until he noticed Phoenix and exclaimed how he remembered her from the Doug Swallow trial, prompting the young woman to groan as she ducked down behind the desk, wishing that everyone would stop pointing out that detail.  
The defense attorney sighed with the roll of her eyes as she reached down and yanked the young woman back upright by grabbing firmly ahold of her the collar of her shirt. Without another word the trial began by Tian calling the security guard who was watching the cameras at the time to the stand.

But the moment the witness entered the room, Pheonix nearly shrieked when saw the security guard was none other than her friend Lexie.  
The ginger-headed woman grinned brightly as she made her way to the stand, flashing her security badge a few times in an attempt to gain the attention of the men in the audience. Once she made it to the stand, she opened her mouth to introduce herself but instead gasped when she managed to spot Pheonix at the Defense Bench.

"Nix, you're here too?! Ha what are the odds, this is almost like the scenario you always claim I would get stuck in!" she exclaimed happily.

Phoenix narrowed her eyes before she slammed her head against the desk, grumbling about how she started to have seconds thoughts about being a lawyer and was starting to consider trying to pursue art again. Fortunately her embaressment ended when the prosecutor slammed her hand against the desk, startling everyone in the room.

Tian emitted an arrogant aura as she dusted off her sleeves as she commanded "With that nonsense out of the way, witness please state your name, occupation, and what you witnessed on the day of the murder."

"Geesh, talk about a sour puss, you're almost as bad as my many ex-boyfriends." Lexie grumbled with a pout and her arms firmly crossed.

She inhaled through her nose for a few moments before finally stating her name and how she was transferred from her old station at the prosecutor's parking lot to the comic con in order to keep on eye on all the celebrities there and insure things don't go out of control. The woman let out an annoyed sigh as she was explained how bored she was having been stuffed in a room surrounded by security monitors with no one to talk to all because one of her fellow security guards claimed her flirting was grating to his nerves. She had kept her eyes on the cameras until around one-forty-five in the afternoon she spotted a figure wearing a black hoodie that hid their face with the symbol for the Powerbots from the robot cartoon that Tabby Farmer watched.

"I saw them mess around with one of Ronald Bix's robots and then leave. Around ten minutes later, that's when Ronald Bix held his demonstration and the robot backfired on him, killing him." Lexie finished with a frown.

"Wait, how can we possibly know that was Tabby Farmer in the footage if you never saw their face?" Mia questioned with a brow raised in suspicion.

But instead of the witness answering, Tian simply chuckled as she opened up her briefcase and pulled out a few photos.

"While I had the police perform their investigation, I had a lookover of the security footage and managed to gather three photos that I would like to submit as evidence." she stated before placing them on the table.

Mia got up from her seat and carefully studied the photos seeing how two of the photos did indeed feature the defendant wearing the hoodie Lexie described while the last picture showed her without it. She instantly noticed while the first picture clearly showed the defendant's face by having the hood down, the second picture had the face hidden with the hood pulled over their head, proving that Lexie was telling the truth when she said she couldn't see their face.

"I would like to direct the court's attention to the second picture." the prosecutor stated as she slapped her whip down on the photo, prompting Mia to quickly jump back, "By studying the photo you can see oil stains on the clothing. The suspect had removed her hoodie and had carelessly left it at her booth. As you can see by the time stamp on the booth, the oil stain had appeared after the suspect was seen sabotaging the victim's robot. So it's very clear that the suspect did indeed murder Ronald Bix."

The prosecutor turn toward Mia, shooting her a smug and victorious grin as the people in the courtroom began muttering to themselves.  
Mia scoffed at this sight before returning to her desk, looking over at her small amount of evidence.

"Are you sure you can prove Farmer's innocence with such little amount of evidence?" Phoenix whispered.

The defense attorney glanced at her assistant to see her frowning in worry, fearing that they might fail in saving a person that truly is innocent. In attempt to cheer her up, she gave her a reinsuring smile before turning her attention back to the evidence. Figuring that the strange device found in the robot wouldn't help at the moment, Mia decided to study the photo Tabby had given her. She studied it carefully until she gasped at a detail she never noticed before.

"You said the time you spotted the suspect mess with the robot was one-forty-five, are you absolutely sure about that?" she asked in a stern tone.

"Of course I'm sure, little horse lady there even has a photo of it." Lexie replied while jabbing her thumb at the prosecutor.

Tian narrowed her eyes with a quiet snarl before she explained that she withheld the photo because she believed that the other photos were enough proof to show that Tabby Farmer committed the crime. Without another word she submitted the photo as evidence on the judge's behalf, revealing that the hooded figure was indeed sabotaging the robot at one-forty-five. Seeing this, a victorious smirk formed on her face as she jabbed out her index figure and cried out objection.

"Your honor, I have proof that figure isn't Tabby Farmer. If you look at this photo of her with the two voice actors, you can see a digital clock behind them that clearly reads one-forty-five! So there's no possible way she could be there and sabotaging the robot at the same time!" she stated.

"What?!" the prosecutor shrieked as she started bending her whip, almost to the point of bending it.

The judge stroked his beard with a hum as he commented that with the new information, he couldn't hand down a verdict. But he immediately yelped in surprise when the prosecutor slapped her whip against her desk, causing a loud snap to echo throughout the courtroom.  
Tian breathed heavily with her teeth tightly clenched together before she took in a deep inhale and made herself look proper once more.

"Well it seems this lawyer is as bad as a wild stallion, looks like I will have to show more discipline. I would like to call in my next witness, he saw the defendant commit the crime before his very eyes." she said.

It wasn't long till Lexie was replaced by a black-haired man wearing huge goggles over his eyes and wearing a black shirt that said "I heart Robot" and a white lab coat. Everyone in the room except for the prosecutor herself was confused by the man's strange attire. Without warning the man firmly planted his fists on the sides of his hips and let out a loud hearty laugh that sounded partially happy and diabolical. Mia groaned when she glanced at Phoenix to see she had crashed to the floor and only her legs were poking above the desk. She sighed as she grabbed the young woman by the arm and helped her back up only to me greeted by an embarrassed grin from her assistant.

"Behold the greatness of Doctor Wheelie, the greatest robotics creator ever!" the man proclaimed loudly with another laugh.

"Doctor Wheelie? Is that your name?" the judge asked.

The man snorted as he firmly crossed as he firmly folded his arms over his chest and replied "I wish but sadly no, that is the name of the villain from my favorite robot video game series Motorman who I am cosplaying as. My real name is Sam Borage and I'm a robotics expert just like Tabby Farmer and Ronald Bix."

"Yes that's good and all but let us please get to your testimony, monsieur." Tian said with an annoyed sigh.

Sam nodded his head in understanding before explaining how he was tending to his booth when he spotted the defendant sneaking into the victim's booth but while she was messing with the robot, she accidentally spilt oil on herself, staining her hoodie. She had dumped her hoodie off at her booth before quickly dashing off to go get autographs from the actors, believing she running late since all the building's clocks were a hour behind due to technical error.

"Technical error, what kind of technical error?" Mia asked.

"Well it is a convention for robotic fanatics and there's technology all over the place. One of them obviously caused the digital clocks to malfunction. Just ask anyone from the convention and they will tell you that there were quite a few problems around the comic con that constantly kept the staff busy trying to repair it." the black-headed answered with a wave of his hand.

Mia closed her eyes as she slightly bit down on her thumb as she thought about the witness' words.

_"So if the clock was really a hour slow, that would mean Farmer was with the voice actors at two-forty-five, but there's something strange with that statement." _she thought to herself.

Her foot tapped rapidly as he mind tried to piece together the mystery, at that moment her eyes snapped open when she discovered the contradiction she was looking for.

"Mr. Borage, exactly what times did those actors give out autographs?" Mia asked.

"Objection, your honor the question has nothing to do with the case at hand! We are discussing murder, not some silly autograph signing session!" Tian immediately stated with her index finger jabbed out.

Mia quickly objected by stating "Your honor if you allow me to ask this question, you'll see how it connects to the case."

The judge stroked his beard for a few seconds before nodding in agreement, allowing the defense attorney to continue with her question.  
Mia noticed Phoenix immediately let out a sigh of relief, revealing that she was worried that the judge would decided to take the prosecutor's side. She couldn't help but chuckle slightly, recalling how she once shared the same nerves in court but thankfully had Deigo to help calm her. She frowned slightly when she remembered her dead man before continuing on with her question.

"Oh they first set up one-thirty and only stick around for a hour before taking a break and returning around four-thirty and sticking around for another hour before leaving for the day. They had to follow this procedure otherwise people would be too distracted by the actors, thus causing all the brilliant robotic creations to be overshadowed." Sam answered.

The defense attorney smirked while brushing her bangs to the side before she stated "Unfortunately for you, Mr. Borage, there's a hole in your testimony. If the staff knew the clocks were running one hour slow, they would have alerted the actors to this as well. Which means that by the time Ms. Farmer arrived at their booth, they would already been gone on break and this photo of her with them shouldn't exist at all!"

The black-headed man gasped loudly as he immediately clutched the sides of the witness stand, causing his goggles to slightly slip off his head. He quickly readjusted his goggles and formed a nervous grin on his face.

"Well isn't it obvious, the staff didn't want anyone confused so they let them still go by their clocks, even if they were an hour slow." he argued.

But Mia simply shook her head as she stated "You said it yourself that the staff was fully aware of the malfunctions and they wouldn't let everyone run on a false schedule in order to keep everything in line since as you stated, they didn't want to take any attention away from the robotics."

But instead of Sam replying, the sound of slow clapping filled the courtroom. The clapping came from none other than Egress Tian. She smiled with a chuckle as her cold brown eyes focused on the attorney across the room from her.

"Oh it was so foolish of me not to realize this earlier. Here I thought you had a point with that photo only for me to realize this, how can you prove she had that picture taken on the day of the murder?" she asked.

Mia inhaled sharply in panic, the photo Tabby had given her had no time stamp and while she could point out Sam Borage's testimony that she did intend to go see the actors on the day of the murder, there was nothing stopping her from visiting the actors a second time. Her fingers began rapidly tapping on the desk, knowing she needed to quickly search through the evidence or else Tabby would be found guilty of a crime she didn't commit. She bit her lip as her eyes searched through the evidence carefully, refusing to give up on her client. That was when her brown eyes settled once more on the security footage photo of Tabby without her hoodie.

"Mr. Borage, may I ask you another question?" she began as her fingers firmly grasped bother photos, "Are the attendees of the comic con to wear their name tags at all times?"

"Well duh, the name tags are pretty much tickets. If security caught you not wearing it you would pretty much get the boot because they'll think you snuck in without paying." he answered as he tugged on the cuff of his black rubber gloves a bit.

The defense attorney grinned at her success before she said "Well if that's the case, then I have proof that Tabby Farmer did indeed have her photo taken on the day of the murder. I would like the court to compare these two photos."

Tian huffed with her nose stuck in the air as she commented "So she's wearing the same shirt. I believe we are aware that the mademoiselle criminal is enough of a fanatic to have multiple versions of the same shirt or do I dare so, rewash that shirt and wear it everyday. So it still isn't proof that she had her photo taken on the day of the murder."

"Except that would be wear you wrong, Egress Tian. It isn't what she's wearing but rather what she isn't wearing." Mia began, watching as the prosecutor began tightly gripping and bending her whip and her red lips form into a firm sneer, "Notice in both photos that she's not wearing the badge. There's no possibly way she could have not been wearing any other day than the murder because had she lost it any earlier, the comic con's security would have had her removed from the premises just like Mr. Borage stated in his testimony."

"Vous femme méprisable!" the prosecutor shouted in French as she slapped her whip down on her desk, "You even worse than the most disobedient stallion!"

"Wow, Mia, you sure got her angry. I'm just waiting for that whip to break from how much she's bending it." Phoenix whispered in amazement.

"While I do find it amusing, the one I'm more concerned with is Sam Borage. I can't put my finger on it but his testimonies had been off since the beginning. If he truly was only a witness, he wouldn't have the need to lie so much." the defense attorney replied.

The young woman hummed in response as she closely studied the strange device she discovered at the murder scene and hadn't submitted as evidence. She twisted it around in her hands until her thumbnail accidentally scrapped the surface. She flinched upon doing this, worried she had accidentally damaged crucial evidence but that worry quickly faded away when she saw she had scrapped black paint that had blended in with the box's color. Deciding to investigate, she scrapped off the rest of the paint. Once she did this, she gasped and immediately tapped her mentor's shoulder.

Mia was confused but her eyes widened in surprise when she saw after Phoenix had scrapped away the black paint, it had revealed that what was written on the bottom of the box wasn't a F like she originally thought but rather a B.


	9. Chapter 9 - Traits of Sabotage

Chapter 9

"Why was the letter B painted to look like an F? Did the true culprit wanted us to find this device in the first place but didn't count on anyone scratching off the paint?" Phoenix asked as Mia carefully studied the device with narrowed eyes.

The defense attorney remained silent for a few moments before finally handing the device back to her assistant and saying "That could be the case. I have a hunch but I need to expose a few things before I can reveal this evidence. So for now hold onto it until I ask for it."

Phoenix nodded her head before slipping the device back into her bag, making sure it was hidden away from view.  
Mia closed her eyes as she tapped her fingers against her desk, thinking about all the evidence she gathered. She didn't consider it a coincidence at all that Sam Borage's testimonies were full of holes and the device she found happened to have the letter B on it with it painted over to look like an F. It was clear to her now why the witness was constantly lying. With a smirk her brown eyes snapped back open, full of determination to expose the true killer.

"Sam Borage, would you be so kind to testify about how the robot was sabotaged. A robotics expert such as yourself would clearly be able to explain the method used to murder the victim." Mia asked.

Sam chuckled as he whipped his head back, swinging some of his black bangs out of his eyes with his hands firmly planted on his hips with a cocky and prideful grin growing larger and larger.

"Sure thing, it's a piece of cake for me since I am the best robotics expert now that Ronald Bix can no longer hold that title." he stated.

Without any hesitation the man began to explain that when he saw Tabby messing around with the robot, he believed he saw her slip a small device into the robot. He theorized that the device was an electronic scrambler, designed to interfere with the coding of electronics which would cause them to immediately start to malfunctioning. Sam continued to explain that he figured that Tabby had done the murder through sabotage in order to hide her tracks but didn't count on getting discovered as the main culprit.

"And you're absolutely sure that was how the murder was pulled off?" Mia continued to press.

"Well duh!" the black-headed man replied with a smug grin, "Why else would she go through the trouble of planning such an elaborate scheme if she wasn't trying to hide her tracks?"

Tian began chuckling slightly as she waved around her whip with a victorious glint in her eye, believing the defense attorney had asked for testimony that only increased the suspicion surrounding defendant and would guarantee her the guilty verdict. But her chuckles slowly died down when she noticed the confidence shining in the brown-headed woman's eyes, causing her to grow a little nervous.

"Mr. Borage, if Ms. Farmer was so determined to hide her tracks, then why would she have left her name tag behind?" Mia stated with a smirk.

Sam yelled in shock as he immediately slapped his hands against the side of his forehead, prompting his googles to slip down and revealed his stunned green eyes. He remained shocked for a few seconds before grabbing his googles and calmly readjusting them once more. But he did not remain calm as the defense attorney continued to explain that if Tabby had truly committed the crime, she would had made sure she left nothing behind before taking off, knowing clearly that leaving behind a name tag would prove to be a huge mistake.

"It's obvious at this point that Ms. Farmer did not commit the crime. The only reason her name tag would be there is because the true murderer wanted to frame her!" Mia explained.

"Objection! It's obvious that mademoiselle criminal accidentally knocked it off of her while she was sabotaging the robot and took off in a dash in order to see the voice actors." Tian countered.

"But if you recall, Mr. Borage stated that she hadn't realized she was late until she supposedly dropped her hoodie off at her booth." the defense attorney began with her eyes narrowed in suspicion, "I find it highly strange that a woman who's smart enough to create a plan to cover up her tracks didn't even bother to check if there were any evidence lying around of her existence. It's clear that the true murder was covering their tracks by using Ms. Farmer as a scapegoat so they wouldn't be considered a suspect. But I think I have an idea who that person is."

With no doubts in her mind, Mia finally revealed her suspect as none other than Sam Borage, knowing that a man with so many lies in his testimonies could not be innocent. She watched as the man yelled in what not only seemed to be shock but also fear as his googles fell off his eyes once again with his eyes darting around the room at top speeds. She waited for him to counter her accusations by claiming that he had no motive for killing Ronald Bix only for her to strike him down by stating how he had claimed early that with Ronald Bix dead, he would now be considered the best robotics expert.

Phoenix stared in surprise as she watched the scene unfold before her. She realized that because how much she freaked out during her own trial, she had never noticed how confident and intelligent Mia was. It amazed her how the woman was able to pick up on the smallest contradictions and use it to expose the true criminals. The young woman let out a sigh as her eyes glanced downward, unsure how she was going to reach that quality when she still struggles with figuring out who the murderer is in mystery novels. Deciding to push aside her thoughts for now, she directed her attention back to the trial, eager to see how her mentor would continue to expose the criminal's lies.

"I can't believe this, just because I dress up as villain doesn't mean I am one!" Sam exclaimed with a hint of bitterness in his voice.

"Also let us not forget that this foolish attorney is accusing an innocent man without any evidence." Tian stated.

Mia brushed her bangs to the side of her face before stating "Yet every single one of his testimonies were proven to be lies and with him not only having a motive but clear knowledge of how to sabotage a robot. If you ask me, that's clearly enough to cast suspicion toward his direction."

Sam began twiddling his thumbs with a small grin, unsure what to say next. At that moment he gasped loudly when an idea struck him.

"Wait, I just remembered something crucial. Farmer also labeled her devices with her initial. There has been times in the past where during setup, the comic con staff would screw up which device belonged to who. So she took extra precautions and placed the letter F for Farmer in order to keep track of her devices and if the staff screwed it up, she could easily track them down." he explained as he firmly planted his fists on his hips as usual, "I do this as well of course since the last thing I need is my glorious creations to be stuck in the hands of some amateur."

"So you're saying the device you claimed to have spotted the killer planting in Ronald Bix's robot should have the letter F on it?" Mia asked, doing her best to hide away her knowing smirk.

When she saw Sam confirm this fact, she turned toward Phoenix and nodded her head, silently telling her that it was time to finally reveal the evidence they had been holding back.

"Mr. Borage, you were correct about the device, there was indeed one found inside of the robot." the defense attorney began.

"Ha! I told you and you should find the letter F on it, proving that she's the murderer!" Sam shouted.

Mia grinned before she finished "Except that wasn't on the device. I discovered that device had been painted with black paint so it would blend in with the device's coloring and go unnoticed with a small glance. But upon removing the paint I discovered that the device wasn't labeled with an F but rather a B."

The black-headed man yelped as he flung his hands into the hair, causing his goggles to fly off his head when he smacked them and land on Phoenix's head, prompting the young woman to shoot a death glare at the witness as the goggles dangled off of her spikey bangs.

Mia simply rolled her eyes before pointing out "Mr. Borage, I found it strange that you knew there was originally a F on the device when no one else had seen this box yet. Clearly you had knowledge of the device beforehand which means that you were the one who really sabotaged the robot."

Before Sam could open his mouth to reply, Tian immediately objected by claiming that there was the possibility that Tabby had borrowed the device from Sam earlier and had painted over the B in order to make it an F and claim it as her own. Upon hearing this he sighed in relief and reached up to adjust his goggles until he remembered they were still dangling off of Phoenix's bangs, prompting him to grin sheepishly as he walked over to the defense desk and snatch back his goggles before returning to the stand.

"Now I remember. Around twelve-o'clock Farmer had approached me. Apparently one of her robots she had made trying to recreate one of her favorite battles from the robot cartoon she watches backfired and caused quite the mess at her booth. She came to me for replacement parts in order to fix up the malfunctioning parts of the robot and I guess while I didn't notice she must have snatched my device." he said.

"Pardon me for asking, but what do kind of robot malfunction would cause such a mess?" the judge asked out of confusion.

"Oh just an oil explosion." Sam answered with a shrug of his shoulders, "Apparently the pump that acted as the engine for the robot malfunctioned and the explosion splattered oil all over her booth. It was pretty messy."

"Oh well that's understandable, oil stains are so hard to get out of carpets I hear." the judge replied.

Phoenix groaned upon hearing this as she slapped her hand against her forehead, muttering about how the judge had confused oil with grape juice.  
Mia ignored her assistant's muttering and focused her attention on the testimony and how it fit into the current case. Her brown eyes glanced over at Tabby who was barely paying attention to the court case. The lawyer groaned with her brows lowered, wishing her client could take more interest since her life was on the line. She was about to turn away until she noticed how the blonde-headed woman was fiddling with her toy robot.

At that moment it instantly clicked in her mind and she quickly pulled out the four photos of the defendant. She studied the first picture of where Tabby's face was seen while wearing the hooding and tightly clutched in her hands was none other than the toy robot. She quickly examined Tabby without the hoodie to see once again the toy robot was in her hands but when she looked at the hooded figure, there was no sign of the toy robot at all.

"Mr. Borage, I'm quite curious, does Ms. Farmer always carry that toy with her?" Mia asked, wanting to get answers.

Sam immediately snorted while trying to hold back a laugh before answering "Yeah she carries that silly thing around. I don't see why though, Motorman is way better than those robo-wannabes in her cartoon."

Tabby's eyes snapped wide open and she jumped up, yelling in rage "How dare you! Optimal Supreme is the greatest robot leader there ever was! He came back from the dead three times! And further more..."

The defendant continued rambling in anger as two bailiffs grabbed ahold of her arms and were trying to force her back down into her seat.  
Phoenix blinked in confusion, barely understanding what the woman was rambling about. She turned to ask her mentor about it until she noticed the brown-headed woman studying the security-cam pictures with a confident grin growing on her face. The young woman couldn't help but tilt her head in confusion, wondering what her mentor managed to see that she couldn't.

"Well despite proving how sensitive mademoiselle criminal is about the subject, I fail seeing how asking about a petite toy has anything to do with the case." Tian stated while casually pointing her whip toward Tabby who the bailiffs finally successfully managed to pin her back down in her seat.

"The prosecution has a point, it is a rather pointless question." the judge commented.

"Actually my question reveals a lot." Mia began to explain, "Mr. Borage, just stated that Ms. Farmer always is carrying her toy robot with her wherever she goes. Yet in the picture with our mysterious hooded figure, the toy figure is no where in sight!"

"What?!" Tian exclaimed as she bent her whip so hard it almost broke, "Well clearly she left it behind in order to plant the device!"

"Objection!" Mia shouted as she slammed her hands on her desk, "The defendant clearly proved moments ago that she's too much of a die-hard fan to leave behind her toy robot. If it truly was her we would have seen the toy in the murderer's hands. It's clear that the murderer is the only one that had a clear motive, knew how the device work, and expected there to be a F on the device. The murderer is none other than Sam Borage!"

Sam clenched his teeth as he began digging his hands in his hair; his body twitched frantically with bolts of sweat pouring down his skin.

"Well, Mr. Borage, do you have anything to say about this?" the judge asked.

The black-headed man continued to panic until finally he threw his hands in the air and screamed at the top of his lungs "Foiled by a stupid toy robot!"

And with that said, Sam collapsed on the ground, leaving the sound of a loud thud as the only thing to echo throughout the courtroom. It wasn't long till they got the answers everyone was seeking. Once Sam came back around, he explained to the court how he was jealous of Ronald Bix and conspired to not only to take out the best but to take out his best competition at the same time. So he first sabotaged Tabby's robot in order to get her hoodie dirty so he could steal it and bumped into Tabby again in order to steal her name tag. He wore the hoodie and name tag, left the device with the letter B painted over to look like an F along with the name tag.

The judge didn't hesitate ordering the bailiffs to take away the true murderer and announce Tabby as Not Guilty.  
Phoenix cheered as she hugged Mia, amazed that the woman managed to successfully prove Tabby Farmer's innocence. The two women made their way to the waiting room where they were greeted by a thankful Tabby.

"Thanks for proving me innocent, if you two were robots, surely you two would make awesome Powerbots. Still can't believe that despicable Sam Borage wanted to become the best and make sure he stayed the best by getting both Ronald and I out of the picture." Tabby stated as she adjusted her glasses.

"Well jealously can be a toxic thing." Mia commented.

The blonde-headed nodded her head before leaving the room.  
The defense attorney smiled before glancing over at her assistant who let out a sigh as she dug the heel of her shoe into the floor. Mia could immediately tell the young woman was upset that she wasn't able to spot the contradictions like her mentor. The brown-headed woman smiled as she rested her hand on her shoulder, prompting Phoenix to glance at her.

"Hey, how about we go grab something to eat, my treat." she suggested with a kind smile.

"B-b-but I d-did nothing!" the young woman stuttered out of shock.

Mia laughed slightly as she patted Phoenix on the back before stating "Have you forgotten who found the device in the first place? If it weren't for your help, Farmer would have probably been declared guilty today. You're also the one that discovered the device had been painted over. My client owes her freedom to you as much as she does to me."

Phoenix's indigo eyes brightened upon hearing this. She couldn't help but feel happy that while she wasn't a lawyer yet, she still managed to help in a trial and with her contributions exposed the true criminal. With her mind set she laughed as she agreed that she liked the idea of going to get a victory meal. Without another word the two women left the courtroom, happy with the victory they had achieved.

Later that day, both Phoenix and Mia were walking down a sidewalk while holding ramen noodles cups in their hands. They passed by different clothes stores, barely paying attention to their surroundings but rather talking about how amusing it was to see Egress Tian storm out of the courthouse with a whip that was broken upon her loss. They continued walking until Phoenix spotted something from the corner of her eyes. She immediately stared in shock with her mouth hanging open, causing the ramen noodles she eating to fall back into the cup.

Mia was confused by this until she noticed the young woman was staring at blue dress suit that was displayed in the store window. At that moment a smirk grew on her face before without warning, she grabbed Phoenix by the wrist and dragged her into the store. She didn't give the young woman any time to react as she snatched the noodle cup from her grasp only to replace it with the blue dress suit and shove her into one of the empty dressing rooms. Mia waited for a few minutes until finally her assistant remerged from the dressing room.

Phoenix remained silent as she walked over to the mirror and indigo eyes widened. She had liked the blue dress suit when she saw it; but she hadn't imagined how much she would love it. She smiled as she straightened out her skirt and spun around once before turning toward her mentor.

"So, what do you think?" the young woman asked.

Mia tapped her index finger against her chin. While she liked the suit; she felt an element was missing. She looked around the store until finally she gasped when she spotted the thing she was looking for. She snagged a long red scarf and firmly tied it around the young woman's neck before spinning her around where she could face the mirror once more.

"Now you look just like an Ace Attorney." Mia commented with a wink.

"I do..." Phoenix replied, taking a pause in disbelief, finding it hard to believe she was staring at the reflection of the same young woman that had trouble finding contradictions.

She remained silent for a few more moments before finally commenting "It looks good on me but I don't think I can afford it."

"Oh don't worry about that, I'll pay for it." the defense attorney responded.

"Wait what?!" Phoenix exclaimed, once again sent spiraling into disbelief.

"It's the least I can do, especially with how much of a big help you were. You may not have the skills now but I can tell you do have the potential to be an Ace Attorney." Mia reinsured.

The young woman smiled before glancing at her reflection once more, hoping her to make her mentor proud one day by not only looking the part of an ace attorney but also act like one. She was determined to become one of the greatest defense attorneys to ever live and finally repay all the people that had helped her reach that point. But most importantly, she hoped to reach the level where she could confront Edgeworth in court and finally get the answers she had been looking for all those years.


	10. Chapter 10 - Table for Two

Chapter 10

Three years had passed since that fateful trial. At the Kurain Village a now seventeen year old Mikey slid open the door to his room before poking his head out. His brown eyes slowly glanced left and right, searching for any sign of his aunt lurking around. When he saw no sign of her, a wide grin formed one his face as he stepped out of his room. Instead of his usual Kurian robes the young boy was dressed in a blue hoodie and black pants. He carefully yet quickly made his way through the wooden hallways, hoping that no one would spot him. He had finally reached the front door that would lead him outside. But as he reached his hand toward the screen, he flinched when he heard a small voice speak his name. Immediately Mikey spun around to see none other than his seven year old cousin Pearl staring at him with her bright, innocent eyes.

"Mystic Mikey, why are you wearing those weird clothes? Mommy wouldn't be happy to see you're not wearing your Kurian robes." she stated with her head tilted in curiosity.

Mikey let out a small sigh as he rubbed his neck. He wasn't sure if his cousin would understand that he was trying to purposely avoid his aunt. Figuring that since he had been caught, the least he could do was give the young girl an explanation. He silently crouched down to his cousin's level, flashing her a slightly flustered grin.

"That's kind of the point, Pearly. I kind of want to give myself a little break from the training." he admitted.

Pearl gasped while slapping her hands over her mouth. She couldn't believe her cousin was admitting such a thing. She knew her mother had told her that her cousin was very special because he would be the first man to become the master of the Kurain Channeling Technique. So the young girl couldn't wrap her mind around why Mikey would seem uninterested in a position that made him very special.

"Mystic Mikey, why would you not want to be the head of the Fey clan? Don't you know there's been no one like you?" Pearls exclaimed with a frown.

"No, that's not it, Pearly." Mikey instantly replied in shock before taking in a deep breath and continuing, "I really want to become a Master Spirit Channeler. But everyone in the village looks up toward me and has so many expectations as the only male to achieve such a status. I'm happy that I'm that special but at the same time, I want to know what it would be like to be a boy without such expectations. I have no father or any male role models to look up to and it makes me feel a bit lonely."

The young girl remained silent as she bit her finger in guilt. She had completely forgotten that her cousin was the only boy in the village since normally only woman were spirit medians and he ended up being a rarity thanks to the Fey family's strong connection to the spirits.  
Noticing his cousin's sadness, Mikey smiled as he laid his hand on her head and ruffled her hair slightly despite the fact it caused some strands to be knocked loose from her twin hair loops.

"Don't worry, Pearly, it'll only be for today. I'll have my fun for one day and then return back here to continue my training." he insured.

Pearl let out a small hum in thought before happily nodded her head. But before her cousin stood back up, she immediately grabbed onto his sleeve to get his attention. She watched as the young teen turned back toward her with one of his brows raised.

"Before you go, Mystic Mikey, do you think that during your break you could maybe find your 'special someone'?" the young girl asked as a small smile grew on her face.

Upon hearing this, Mikey's face turned blood red. He was flustered that his little cousin was asking him to try to find a girlfriend. He knew that the young girl always imagined him being a knight in shining armor toward a beautiful woman much like a fairytale. His mind desperate searched for a response to the girl's request as he glanced up at the ceiling and rubbed the back of his neck.

Seeing she hadn't got a response, Pearl pouted as she placed her hands on her hips and stated "Mystic Mikey, you're getting older. It wouldn't be nice if you didn't find a 'special someone'. Honestly you should be a perfect gentleman toward women."

_"I don't think I need to worry about being a perfect gentleman toward women for a while though."_ Mikey thought to himself with a roll of his brown eyes.

Deciding to at least satisfy his cousin, he promised that he would try to look for a nice girl. He couldn't help but smile when he saw Pearl giggle in delight at the thought of him finding someone. Without another word, he slid the door open and had his cousin promise one last time to not tell her mother before quickly dashing off to the train station.

Back in town, a now twenty-three year-old Phoenix walked out of a building with her heart pounding at top speeds and her fingers clinging tightly onto the papers for the results of her bar exam. After training and studying under Mia for three years, she managed to push through her schooling to the point she was ready to take the test that would determine whether or not she would become a defense attorney. Without warning the young woman was abruptly snapped out of her thoughts when she heard someone loudly shout her name. The suddenness of shout prompted Phoenix to scream as she jumped a few feet off the ground before crashing to the ground. Her world was spinning until she was greeted with her now twenty-four year-old friend grinning brightly in her attire of a white shirt with colored squares, and orange jacket, black pants, and brown shoes.

"So, Nix, did you pass the test?" Lexie asked as her grin grew ever so wider.

Phoenix narrowed her eyes with a grumble before sitting up and dusting off her blue dress suit, wanting to make sure the gift from her mentor was still taken properly care of. Once she was finished, she stood up and began picking up her papers.

"Well if you hadn't startled me like you had done for so many years, I would have been able to tell you that I did indeed pass the bar exam." she stated as she picked up the last paper.

Upon hearing this, Lexie cheered before hugging her friend, resulting in the Phoenix to drop all her papers to the ground.  
Phoenix let a small annoyed sigh escape her mouth before she bent down to gather up the papers again. She never could bring herself to hate the ginger-headed woman, especially after how many situations she helped her through by sticking by her side. But she couldn't help but be a little annoyed at how her friend's dedication tended her to get stuck in many situations as well.

With the last of the papers gathered up, Phoenix let out a huff as she stood up and asked "So I'm guessing you want us girls to spend a night on the town in celebration?"

"Well normally I would..." Lexi began while twisting the sold of her shoe in the ground a bit before excitedly proclaiming, "But I met this super sweet guy! His name is Rocky Nash and he's a super model!"

A smile spread on Phoenix's lips as she placed her hand on her hip and silently shook her head, watching as her friend gush about her newest romance. It wasn't long until the two women heard a man called out Lexie's name. They both turned to see a very fit man with short yet flowing brown hair, dressed and the latest designer clothes. The dark-headed woman raised her brows in surprise when her friend whispered into her ear that the man was none other than Rocky Nash. She began to wonder how Lexie even managed to approach the man without getting security called on her and having to receive yet another restraining order.

"I'd better go. See ya later, Nix, and congratulations again on passing!" Lexie called out before dashing over to her boyfriend.

Phoenix had to stifle a laugh when she saw the ginger-head woman immediately start dragging Nash along by the arm as the man had a shocked and confused look on his face at how much strength his girlfriend possessed. With her thoughts drifting back to the results of her bar exam, her indigo eyes drifted downward at the papers in her hand. She inhaled deeply through her nose and closed her eyes in content; she had finally achieved the goal she had long sought after. She was a defense attorney and she knew that this was only the beginning for her newest goal, to finally unravel the mystery behind Edgeworth.

She blinked open her eyes when she felt her stomach growl a bit. Phoenix smiled sheepishly when she remembered that she was so nervous about the bar exam that she hadn't eaten all day. Figuring she might as grab a bite to eat before she heads back to her new apartment, the dark-headed woman made her way toward the nearest restaurant. Her eyes scanned the different buildings as she walked down the sidewalk until finally she noticed a burger joint.

_"Not my type of place but I suppose I could get a sandwich or something." _she thought to herself.

With her mind set, Phoenix entered the restaurant. She was about to go over to a table until she heard a commotion over at the counter. She turned to see a young teenage boy in a blue hoodie arguing with the cashier.

"Oh come on, so what if I'm three cents short? That should be enough to pay for my meal!" the teenager complained.

"I said no, either you pay completely for your meal or you don't get it!" the cashier responded in a strict tone.

Phoenix watched as the two males argued back and forth to the point that she started to pity the teenager. In a strange way it reminded her of back in her classroom when she was begging and pleading for her classmates to believe her innocence. Inspired by her memory and the determination her friends possessed to defend her, the defense attorney lowered her brows as she reached in her jacket pocket and pulled out her wallet.

Mikey continued to bicker with the cashier until they both were interrupted by a hand slapping down on the counter. His brown eyes glanced to his sides to see a young woman in a blue dress suit, white blouse, and a red scarf staring intently at the cashier. He raised a brow at the three large bangs that stuck out from her forehead, giving her a strange looking hairstyle, almost spiky looking. He didn't know why, but he felt like he had seen that strange spiky hairstyle somewhere before but couldn't exactly recall from where or when.

"I believe that should cover this boy's bill." Phoenix said as she lifted away her hand to reveal she had slapped three cents onto the counter.

Mikey's mouth dropped up as he head quickly looked back and forth between the money and the woman. He couldn't believe a stranger had helped him out in a minor situation. He was awakened from his thoughts when he heard the cashier grunt in annoyance before he hand a bag with three burgers in it. Mikey couldn't help but form a smug smirk on his face as he accepted the bags. But his thoughts her interrupted by a surprised gasp. He turned toward the woman to see her staring at him with her mouth hanging open.

"You ordered three hamburgers only for yourself?!" she exclaimed in shock in disbelief.

The teenager shrugged his shoulders as he simply responded "I'm a growing boy, I tend to have a big appetite."

Phoenix blinked silently, unsure how to respond to the teen's comment. Finally she shook her whilst rubbing the temple of her forehead and making her way to a table. But much to her shock, when she sat down she saw the teenage boy sit down across from her and drop his bag of burgers on the table.

"Exactly what are you doing?" she asked as she grabbed the menu and flipped it open.

"Well originally I was going to take these burgers to go as I explored the city a bit. But you seem like a fun person to talk to so I figured I might as well hang around a bit." Mikey responded with an innocent grin.

Phoenix simply rolled her eyes at this response before directing her attention to the menu. She found it hard to understand how simply paying three cents for someone's meal could lead to them following her around like a lost puppy. The young woman occasionally glanced up from her menu to see the black-headed boy take a huge bite out of one of his burgers. Admittedly the sight amused her a bit to see a small young boy have such a ravenous appetite since the scenery seemed a bit ironic. She was focused on the menu until she heard the young teen cough and beat his fist against his chest.

"May want to slow down there Speed Racer. You still have more of life to look forward to than to lose it from death by burgers." she commented.

Mikey coughed a few more times and chuckled slightly.

"Yeah I see your point, but it would be a great way to go out. Eating the food you love." he replied.

He grinned slightly when he saw the young woman snicker at his response. He was glad that she had a bit of humor since, from aside her hair, he was worried that she was more of the serious type based on her attire. But despite that he knew that she was capable of being serious by how she handled the situation with the cashier with a determined and confident expression. He watched as she finally called over the waitress and over herself a sandwich and iced-tea. When the waitress walked away, his eyes widened at what he noticed in the corner of the restaurant, resting against the wall.

"Oh hey it's one of those step-ladders." he said as he pointed at it.

Phoenix hummed slightly in response before she turned back to look at the object the teenager was pointing at.

"Oh," she began to say as she turned back to face him, "you mean a ladder."

Mikey took another bite of his burger and replied with his mouth full "No, it's a step-ladder."

The defense attorney folded her arms over her chest and stated "It's a ladder."

The two went back and forth with the debate, arguing whether if it was truly a ladder or a step-ladder. Their argument continued until finally the waitress returned with Phoenix's food and drink.  
Mikey carefully studied as the young woman immediately peeled open her sandwich and grimaced when she spotted three pairs of sliced cucumbers at the top of her sandwich. When she began picking them off, not wanting them to go to waste, Mikey simply snatched the cucumber slices off of the plate and dropped them in his mouth.

Phoenix's face scrunched up slightly in both confusion and disgust. She found it hard to believe the teen was still willing to eat after having nearly three burgers and it disgusted her that he actually liked eating cucumbers. The fact disgusted her so much she couldn't prevent the small yet audible bleck from releasing from her mouth.

"You don't like cucumbers?" Mikey asked with his mouth full once again.

"First of all, don't talk with your mouth full." the dark-headed woman responded with the raise of her index finger, "Second of all, yes I do despise cucumbers. When I was younger my family took a trip to Japan so I can see where my ancestors originated from and one of the locals told me about the yokai known as Kappa. The tale horrified me so much that I've never eaten cucumber ever since to make sure my family never run out of cucumbers."

The young teenager snorted out a laugh, prompting him to immediately slap his hand over his mouth to keep quiet. He had heard tales of the yokai as well since his village had ties with Japanese culture, but the thought of a grown woman still terrified of the tale amused him. He tired to hold back his laughter but failed as he ended up bursting into laughter, earning an annoyed glare from the woman sitting across from him.

"Don't you dare laugh! Those tales are messed up! Almost vampire novel fanfiction bad!" Phoenix grumbled with a pout.

"I... heh... I wouldn't... ha ha... say it's on that kind of levels of bad." Mikey snickered as he did his best to quiet down his laughter but failing once again.

The defense attorney did her best to glare at the teenager but she found herself faltering. Finally she couldn't help but burst into laughter as well. Quite a while passed passes that the two sat together until finally Phoenix finished up her drink and her sandwich. She smiled with a nod as she stood up from her table, heading over to the counter to pay before leaving the restaurant. But much to her surprise, she saw the teenage boy immediately dash out of the restaurant and trailed after her. She raised a brow as he smiled up innocently at her while firmly holding his hands behinds his back.

"Exactly why are you following me?" she asked with her eyes slightly narrowed.

"You remind me of someone I know and I figured I could hang out with you for the rest of the day. If you're anything like the person I know then you should know some fun places around the city." he answered with a large grin.

He didn't want to admit to a person he barely knew, but for a strange reason the woman reminded Mikey of his big sister Mia. From the way she acted straight down to even her dress attire, he was surprised how many similarities he was drawing to his older sister. He was drawn away from his thoughts when he heard the defense attorney let out a long drawn-out sigh.

"Alright, I suppose I have nothing better to do and you seem nice enough." Phoenix replied.

"Nice enough? What's that suppose to mean?" Mikey exclaimed with his hands on his hips.

"Exactly what you think." the dark-headed woman replied back with a chuckle and a wink.

"But I don't know what it means!" the young teenager responded as the two continued walking together through the streets, both surprised by how much they were enjoying each other's company.


	11. Chapter 11 - Confrontations

Chapter 11

"So why is exactly a boy like you out wandering the city without your parents?" Phoenix teasingly smirked at the teenage boy.

Mikey flinched a bit at the mention of parents; he didn't like to be reminded of the fact he had never met his father and his mother was long gone. Not wanting to let the woman he barely knew catch onto this, he grinned as he partially lied about him getting tired of his parents and wanting to explore the city on his own for a bit.

"My parents kind of smother me. I'm always having to do what I'm told and never allowed any fun. So I decided that I had enough and wanted some fun for myself." he finished with his hands resting behind his head.

The dark-headed woman frowned slightly upon hearing this. She found it hard to believe that, even with neglecting parents, the young teen had no one else to turn to. She figured he would have at least friends or some other family members to rely on. But she could tell by the tone of the teenage boy's voice that wasn't quite the case. Phoenix silently sighed as she smiled once more at her current companion. While she knew it was none of her business to pry any further, the least she could do was be friendly company.

"So enough about me, what about you?" Mikey finally spoke up, "What's with your weird get up anyway?"

"It's not a weird get up." Phoenix replied in defense, "It's a dress suit. My friend and mentor bought it for me so that I can use it for when I'm an attorney."

The teenager raised his brows when the moment the woman mentioned the word "attorney." He found is surprising that he met someone that shared the same job as his sister. His thoughts were stirred when he notice a large amount of people setting up different stands and lanterns. His eyes lit up in wonder as he stared with his mouth hung ajar. He had never seen anyone prepare for a large type of festival before; the closest he ever got was ceremonies in Kurian Village for Spirit Mediums.

Wanting to satisfy his ever growing curiosity, Mikey asked "So what kind of celebration are they preparing for?"

Phoenix raised a brow at the boy's question before answering "It's for the Midsummer Festival. I'm surprised that you don't know about this. All kids your age are usually excited for this advent; I'll admit that even I was excited about the festival at that age and continue to be excited about it to this day. It's a fun time where you hang out with friends and family, enjoying sweets and playing an assortment of games."

The young teen frowned as he listened to the defense attorney pour so much love and enchantment in her description of the Midsummer Festival. It all sounded marvelous to him, but because his aunt always wanted him to focus on his spirit channeling studies, he never got to experience it.

"My... family never really liked me going out on my own, because of that I never knew this festival even existed until now." he explained with a small pause.

He knew that this time he technically wasn't lying to the young woman; Morgan Fey never did like the idea of him taking a single step outside of Kurian Village. The depressing fact loomed in his mind that, no matter what action he would take, his village need a master spirit medium from the Fey clan to guide them. He could recall how many villagers were surprised, puzzled, and even angered that the head of the clan would fall to a man. There had been more rare cases like himself, where the Fey family's strong connection to the spirit world allowed some male descendants to gain the ability to speak with the dead. But none of those rarities ever gained the rank of master, simply because there was always a woman that could easily fill that role.

Mikey was fully aware how much he was shaking up the spirit medium tradition. It wasn't only a new experience for him but for his entire village as well. A new experience that was able to come to fruition with the disappearance of his mother and his sister stepping down in order to become an attorney.  
Phoenix easily took note of the teenager's frowning face and nudged his shoulder, prompting him to glance up along with a jolt.

"Hey, you're still young. You should smile more often." she noted.

"Wait, I should what?" Mikey responded in confusion.

"You should smile more often." the attorney replied, "I may not know how your home life is, but one thing my mentor taught me is to try to smile in the toughest times. If you're smiling, then you won't quite feel defeated all the time."

With that last of her words, she formed a large and bright smile on her face while letting out an amused hum.  
Mikey blinked silently at the young women. He was surprised how much she kept reminding him of his sister. Finally deciding to follow her advice, the young teen formed a large grin on his face, chuckling slightly whilst doing do.

"See there's the smile I was looking for, and such an adorable one too." Phoenix laughed.

"Adorable, I think you mean 'ruggedly handsome'." Mikey joked with a snicker.

The attorney laughed as she stated in a joking tone "Yeah talk to me when you're older and then I'll decide if you're 'ruggedly handsome'."

The two laughed for a bit until the dark-haired woman suggested to her companion that he should stick around for the festival.  
Mikey couldn't help but be enticed by the offer; he wanted to stay long enough to enjoy the festivities, but feared that he would be gone from home far too long and that his aunt would realize he had snuck off. As much as he wanted to say yes, he knew he couldn't his aunt discovering about his trip to the city. He sighed as he shook his head, doing his best to smile for the young woman.

"Wish I could but I would have to get home before it gets too late." he answered.

"Hmm, that's a shame." Phoenix began to say as she patted the boy's head, "Maybe you could try next year. I'm sure if you talk to your parents they'll understand."

Mikey grinned slightly, trying to ignore the fact the attorney still believed he had parents. He stirred from his thoughts when his companion suggested they check something out. He was puzzled at what activity the young woman had planned but decided not to question it. Without the word, he allowed the defense attorney to guide him to their next destination. It only took a few minutes until Mikey found himself in the backstage of a show. He was confused until he saw a woman dashing by with scripts and tools.

Phoenix watched the woman dash by before finally commenting "Hello Tabby Farmer!"

The blonde-headed woman instantly came to a screeching stop upon hearing her name. She quickly spun around, causing her glasses to drop down a bit and her tools clatter in her arms. She blinked a few times, taking a few moments until finally she recognized Phoenix from her trial earlier that year.

"Oh it's you. You're the one that helped proved my innocence when that creep, Sam Borage, tried to frame me for murder." she commented.

"Yep. Nice you see you hadn't changed since last we spoke. I see you used the robotics you were working on to make your own stage show." the attorney replied.

Tabby pushed her glasses up with one hand as she began explaining how she perfected the machinery and smoothed out the issues to allow her to reenact her favorite scenes from her favorite robot cartoon. Not wanting her robotics to go to waste, she decided to create a stage show centered around the cartoon with fellow robotic and robot cartoon experts to insure that all performances run smoothly with little to no problems.  
Mikey didn't quite understand why Phoenix wanted him to bare witness to her checking up on an old acquaintance. He was confused until he heard the dark-haired woman request a couple of tickets for the next show.

"I figured this young guy here should experience your display of robotics." the young woman suggested.

The robotics expert pursed her lips, narrowing her eyes as she closely studied the teen. Finally after a few seconds of thought, she handed out two tickets whilst stating that the teen before did seem like a lover of the superhero genre.

"Unfortunately you don't seem like the guy that would love Optimal Supreme. You strike me more as a Steel Samurai lover." Tabby casually mentioned with the shrug of her shoulders.

"Steel Samurai?" Mikey instantly questioned; his eyes lighting up with interest.

"Oh it's just some silly superhero show. It never really interested me too much, a little too silly for my taste." Phoenix stated with the wave of her hand.

The teenage boy raised his brow in interest, wanting to know more about the superhero known as Steel Samurai. Unfortunately he was unable to ask anymore questions as both he and Phoenix were pushed out of backstage by Tabby who stated that she needed to return to preparing for the show. With nothing else to do, Mikey sat down with the attorney in the audience and awaited the show. It took a few minutes, but the curtains finally pulled away to reveal two robots on an alien planet. The seventeen year-old's eyes widened as he watched the robots exchanged both words and blows, putting on an amazing display.

He could easily see how much love and dedication was being poured into the act. His brown eyes glanced around at stage, managing to notice Tabby along with a few other robotic experts. He could see some with laptops, typing away frantically on the keyboard, while Tabby and one other person had controllers in their hands in order create the robots' movements. Mikey couldn't help but find himself impressed with the display. Having spent most of his life in Kurian Village, he never got to witness amazing displays. The closest thing he had was spirit channeling, but due to it being a common factor of his daily life, it didn't come off as amazing to him compared to others.

The show finally came to an end with Optimal Supreme landing the winning blow on Negazone and shouting out his popular catchphrase. The audience burst into applause and cheers, prompting all the performers to walk upon the stage. Mikey couldn't help but laugh a little when he saw Tabby waved slightly before using her controller to make the robot behind her wave to the audience. The performers basked in the glory and cheers for a couple of minutes before finally closing the curtains. Without a word, Phoenix and Mikey got out of their seats as they headed backstage once more.

"That was an amazing show." Phoenix complimented as she approached the blonde-headed woman, "Thanks for letting us witness your amazing display of robotics. I'm surprised with how smoothly everything went."

"Well it's easy when you have a team keeping a careful watch on the machinery levels and mechanics to make adjusts before every show to keep everything in order. To be honest, there's no way I could run this show singlehandedly. So I appreciate my fellow robot cartoon fans giving me a hand. We're considering taking this show on the road in order to let as many people as possible to see." Tabby confessed as she mindlessly patted her hand against the robot.

"That's a shame, I was hoping I could see this show again. It was really entertaining." Mikey commented with a large grin, "But I suppose I could catch a show when you and your crew come back to town."

The robotics expert smiled as she thanked the teen for his kind words. With a few words of good luck shared, Phoenix and Mikey finally left in order to allow Tabby and her crew to prepare for the next show.  
The two walked as they discussed the show they had witnessed, talking about the different fight scenes and how the audience absolutely adored the performance.

"I'm glad you showed me that before I had to head back home. Better than my original idea of just roaming the city." the teenager stated with a snicker.

"Hey, it's been a treat hanging out with you too." Phoenix said with a smile, "I hope maybe we'll encounter each other again in the future."

Mikey agreed with a slight smile. He liked talking to the young woman but wasn't sure if he would be able to encounter her again. With his aunt keeping a watchful eye on him nearly all the time, he knew it would be a rare chance that he would be able sneak out again. Deciding to share their goodbyes, the teenage boy waved before walking away from the woman. But after taking a few steps, his body froze when a realization had struck him. He had realized that during that entire time he talked with the young woman, neither of them had revealed their names.

Quickly he spun around, fully intent to properly introduce himself. But when he turned around, much to his disappointment, the defense attorney was already gone. The teenager sighed as he stuffed his hands into his pockets.

"Well don't know how I'm supposed to meet her again if we don't even know each other's name." he muttered to himself.

Without another word, Mikey began his long trek back to his home.

A few months had passed since Phoenix's encounter with the teenage boy. Rocky Nash was in his apartment, unpacking his things from his suitcase. He let out a frustrated sigh as the sound of heels rapidly tapping on the floor filled the air. Silently he turned to face woman wearing a purple cocktail dress, black gloves and jacket, and stilettos. The many gold bracelets on her wrists jingled as she flipped back her long black hair. Her ruby painted lips were formed in an enraged and disgusted sneer as she glared at the man before her.

"Now Rocky, sweetie, clearly you aren't thinking clearly." she said with the click of her tongue, "You don't obviously want to cut off my funds."

"No, I'm thinking quite clearly." Rocky replied with a hint of a snarl in his voice, "You've been trying to drain my wallet dry from the day we met. You do that whole 'sweetie' or 'honey' talk, but I know it's just meaningless words at an attempt to get all the money you can get."

He placed a small statue of The Thinker on the counter before turning back toward his suitcase.

The woman grinded her teeth in frustration; her brown eyes were practically glaring daggers at the man's head.

"Do you honestly think you could easily cast me aside?" she threatened, "I've shown you love and devotion. I'm been by your side for many months. Yet now you see it fit to toss me aside because you grow tired of me! You underestimate me if you think I will take this lying down."

"You were never interested in me, only my wallet. If I tried to keep up this fake relationship, neither my wallet nor I would have lasted much longer. I've grown tired of walking in public with a fake smile, claiming that I adored you with all my heart. You say you were devoted, but the truth is you were only devoted so as long as kept the money rolling into your bank. I could practically picture that devilish and greedy grin of yours as you counted every single dollar in the wad you held in your hands everyday. It was never about me, it was always about the money. So this lie of a relationship is officially over. Besides you were pretty ugly anyway, especially with that giant wig of yours." he finished with a humph.

The woman snarled in rage; her fingers digging deeply in the palm of her hands. It enraged her that he refused to give her anymore money, but she was absolutely infuriated that he man insisted that she was hideous. Her brown eyes focused on the statue of The Thinker as her rage continued to grow. With her anger at her boiling point, she snatched the statue off of the counter. Rocky didn't even have time to react as the woman smashed the statue down on his head at full strength. She breathed rapidly as she watched the man thud to the ground without making a single sound.

She was about to start screaming in rage until she froze at what she saw. Her face turned pale when she saw a pool of blood began forming around the man's head; it was at that moment she had realized she had killed Rocky Nash. With shaky hands, she lifted up the statue she clenched tightly in her hand, seeing indeed a large amount of blood covering The Thinker's turning head as it told the time. She breathed frantically in fear, her eyes shaking, the sound of a voice saying "I think it's one o'clock." echoing in her mind. Many panicked thoughts ran through her mind, leaving her unsure how she could explain her current situation that didn't result in her going to jail. Suddenly an idea clicked in her mind.

She recalled back when she was about to enter the apartment to talk to Rocky Nash, she saw a ginger-headed woman leaving the apartment. The look of frustration painted on her face as she kept muttering to herself about the rage of being turned down for a date. At first she didn't mind the woman, brushing her off as meaningless; but now she was very thankful that she managed to spot the woman during her arrival. She saw an opportunity and she was desperate to seize it to avoid punishment for her crime.

"Hmm, a frustrated woman leaving a man's apartment. The owner of the apartment is discovered to be dead inside." she muttered to herself with a sly grin, "I think I may have found the solution to this little situation I'm in. What better way to avoid charges for a murder than to blame someone else."


End file.
